Never Twice
by moongaser
Summary: Emily and Katie Fitch are forced to move to live with their Aunt one summer while their parents deal with some financial issues back home, but what Emily assumes will be a relaxing visit with her aunt quickly turns into an adventure she could have never imagined. An adventure bringing her face to face with danger, darkness, and a particular blue eyed blonde.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **I'm Parker, and I'm addicted to Fanfiction. (Hi, Parker)

I just thought I'd jump into this writing thing a little more. This is the first story I've ever posted onto the interwebs that isn't a little one-shot, so I'm quite nervous about it... BUT I've been having so much fun writing it that I am going to share. I hope it's not too awful!

Disclaimer: I'm just a fan.

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**Chapter1.**

I was seventeen when I first came here.  
We had driven for hours away from the life I had known to a house in the heart of the country, ten miles away from any railway station and even more from the nearest clothing store, to my sister Katie's dismay.  
I hadn't complained though. I feel as though my sister did enough of that for the both of us. I didn't mind, really, but then again she did have a boyfriend, and I did not.

I peered out the window of our car, and watched the blurring trees swaying in the wind as the rain slipped its way down the glass. I was actually looking forward to the quiet that consumed the country. It was nice, and calm. Peaceful.

Katie coughed pointedly, and I turned to see her staring at me in disgust. I quickly composed myself, wiping off the smile I had on my face that I didn't know was there, and looked down at my lap.

"You do realize I'm going to be moving back to live with Danny as soon as I can, yeah?" She said turning her hateful gaze to my father who was concentrating on his driving.

"Oh, c'mon love! It's not that bad." He said glancing at her through the rearview mirror.

"Well, why doesn't he have to go?" Katie asked raising her eyebrows and pointing back to James in the back seat.

"..Do you want him to stay with you?" Dad asked turning his head and giving Katie a doubtful look.

"good point." Katie mumbled.

"Besides, It's only for a bit while your mother and I get things sorted back home."

We had been having financial issues ever since our dad lost his Gym. We lost our home, and were forced to live in a motor home for a bit before our parents decided it best to bring us to live with our aunt, Rosie, while they work on getting our life back together in London.

"Back home? Where is that exactly, hmm? We're fucking homele-"

"Katherine," Said our mom turning to send her a warning look. She shut up immediately, and turned to her window. I did the same.

"Are we there yet? I've got a shit load of shit I need to shi-"

"JAMES!" My mom shouted turning once again," I am appalled with your language. All of you. You will not be speaking this way at your aunt's."

"But I didn't even say anything!" I said turning my gaze from the window once more.

The car turned sharply, ending the argument as the house came into view.

It was very large, and beautiful. It was brick, with large windows, and was completely surrounded by green grass.

The car halted, and Katie quickly pushed the door open, grabbing two of her extremely large bags and marching towards the building in a huff.

I was suddenly very excited to see my Aunt Rosie. She was so fun, and artsy. When I was little we would go on hikes together her, Katie, and me, and we would always stop to sit on the cliff edge, and she would reach into her pack and take out paints and canvases, and we would paint our surroundings and just talk. I used to love visiting her and Uncle William here. Katie did too, but she lost interest as soon as she discovered all of the reality shows on television. That was so long ago.

It made me sad to know that I barely knew her now. She was such a lovely woman, which is probably why her and my mum didn't really get on that well. She was three years younger, and her beliefs did not match my mothers in many ways. I remember they used to argue constantly, hadn't talked for more than four years out of my childhood, and are still a bit awkward to this day. They still love each other though, you can tell. It's a sister thing.

"Come on, Emily," Katie shouted turning around, and snapping me out of my head. I sighed and grabbed my bag before stepping out of the car and following her.

The door opened before we got to it, and Rosie stood there smiling brilliantly. She was a very pretty woman. She didn't look much like mum apart from her eyes. Her features were much softer, and her smile was always genuine. She had short dark hair, and rosy cheeks, and she was wearing a dark green flannel button up, and a pair of dark trousers.

I found myself smiling back immediately, and we both set our bags down to give her hugs.

"Well, if it isn't my favourite twins, " She said as she pulled back to look us over," both beautiful as ever. I can't wait to catch up."

"Auntie Rose, I need to shi-" James was slapped in the back of the head by my mom as they made their way towards us, "Er… use the restroom."

She laughed softly, "Of course Jamesie. I'll show you to it while I lead the girls to their rooms to put their stuff down."

The house was extremely large. The rooms boarding the corridors seemed endless. There was artwork, and photos hanging on the walls, and book cases filled with adventures in others. The house was full of many mysterious rooms and even some themed rooms that Rosie decorated herself picking things up from pawn shops here and there. I whispered something about "exploring through the house" to Katie and she rolled her eyes, and smiled. Rosie gave us the grand tour of the home that I barely remembered from my childhood, and ended up introducing the room that would be ours.

I realized it made me sad to know that she had to live in this huge home by herself. Uncle William had passed away in a forest fire that happened nearby while hiking. It had been years, and she seemed to be okay now, but I still made it a personal goal to make sure Aunt Rosie would enjoy having us living here with her by making her feel less alone… If that was the case.

After an hour or so of tea and random chit-chat (and a very awkward goodbye exchange between our mother and Rosie), we said our goodbyes to our parents and James, and were left to unpack in our room. Katie and I shared a room, although we really didn't need to.

The room was simple. There were two beds on each side of the wall both taking sides of the large window framed with soft white curtains. Under the window sat a small dresser, and to the left of the door sat a large white wardrobe with swirly carvings engraved in the doors. There was only one though, so Katie and I would have to share.

I lifted my bag onto the bed on the right, dumped my stuff onto it and began to sort through my clothes, folding some, and hanging some on the hangers I found in the wardrobe.

"You're joking." Katie said from beside me as I hung up one of my sweaters. I turned around to find her staring at me, eyebrows up incredulously.

"..What?"

"She can't expect us to only use one wardrobe at that size. Look at all of this," she motioned towards her bed which was completely piled with dresses and blouses. It was a pile that obviously wouldn't fit in a wardrobe along with my stuff.

Just then, Rosie poked her head in curiously.

"Is everything alright?" she asked reading the expression on Katie's face.

"It seems Katie and I might need more storage." I nodded towards the clothes which were now tipping over a bit, slowly slipping off towards the floor.

Rosie laughed, "I see... Well," she seemed to ponder this for a bit before smiling, "Oh wait!" She then quickly disappeared, running into the hall. The sound of her running halted as she suddenly reappeared back at the door, "I'm going to need a bit of help." She said with a smile.

We followed her down the hall until we reached another hall filled with more doors. She stopped at the end of the corridor and walked into a room with a high ceiling and a large window. It was empty apart from a large dark wardrobe. It was smaller than the one in our room, and it seemed aged. Katie smiled broadly to herself, and nudged my side,

"This one is yours." She said with a wink before heading towards it and bending her knees in preparation for the lift.

Katie and I spent the rest of the day organizing and getting comfortable. We had a nice dinner with Aunt Rosie and watched a few romantic comedies before the three of us decided to call it a night and heading to bed.

"It's nice here." I said to Katie as we lay in our beds and listened to the rain tapping lightly on the window. I heard Katie rustle in her sheets, as she turned to face me from across the room.

"It's alright." She said. I smiled to myself, and closed my eyes before I felt myself slip into a peaceful slumber.

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	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **So that last chapter was basically just setting everything up.

I should probably add that this is _technically_ a cross-over... Between skins and... Ehem.

Just read the dang story.

... Please.

OH! and I like reviews. So, if you like giving reviews then... I can see this working *nudge nudge* ;)

**Disclaimer:** I'm just a fan.

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**Chapter2.**

It rained all day that next day, and the day after that one… and the day after that.

It was frustrating. Don't get me wrong, I like the rain, but I was finally where I wanted to be. Back where I could hike and wander and enjoy the wonders of nature… No matter how corny that sounds.

But instead of doing the things I was so close to being able to do, I found myself sitting around lazily with Katie, listening to her jab about her now _ex_ boyfriend while Aunt Rosie went to the town to pick up some food.

"I mean, who does he think he is? I'm right fit! I'm a fucking FITCH for fuck's sake!" I nodded. I wasn't really listening. I had been at first, but her complaining had been going on for days now. Three to be exact and I was over it.

Katie jumped as her phone went off, and she quickly checked the caller ID and answered it.

"Hey, Amy… I know right! What a loser!... He did _WHAT_?"

I quickly stood up, glad to be able to get away from this annoying situation for a moment, and headed up to our room.

When I walked in the first thing I noticed was how freezing it was. I shivered as I realized the window was propped open, and walked over to pull it shut. I rubbed my arms, still cold after pulling it shut, and turned to the wardrobe to get a top to pull over the t-shirt I had on.

I opened the wardrobe and began shifting through my clothes in attempt to find my favourite dark grey  
jumper. I couldn't see it so I assumed it must be in the back somewhere, maybe caught on the end of another hanger. I reached in, and flattened my hand out in anticipation of meeting the hard wood of the back of the wardrobe with my fingertips.

I tripped when I ended up reaching further than I anticipated, and found myself lying on top of the jumper I was looking for inside the wardrobe itself. I smiled to myself and sat up, slipping it on over my head and resting my head on the wood, and closing my eyes. I quickly jolted upwards when I realized how far I was in the wardrobe. I then noticed how warm my jumper was, and how odd that was considering how freezing my room had been before.

Then I saw it.

A light seeping through the far end of the wardrobe along with what seemed to be… Branches? I must have fallen hard when I tripped. I rubbed my head carefully inspecting it for any bumps. There were none, so I decided to walk towards the mysterious light, and soon found myself standing in the middle of a clearing in a thick forest of trees.

I looked behind me to see the wardrobe was still there, and frowned. Had I just walked through some kind of portal?

It was sunny here, and there were birds, and a giant bear, and flowers.

It was beautifu- _Fuck…_

A giant bear.

I gasped, and the bear quickly moved its head up to look at me. It was only a few yards away, and I froze momentarily before it growled at me viciously. Its eyes were angry, and it stood on its hind legs, and I did the first thing that came to mind.

I ran.

I started running back to the wardrobe but the bear quickly turned me around when it beat me there at an angle that had me running in the exact opposite direction.

I silently thanked myself for wearing good shoes, as I sprinted through the forest, bear practically in tow. It growled again loudly, and I could feel it catching up to me rapidly.

I could feel that I was going to lose as its panting grew louder in my ears.

Then, I felt something hit me out of the blue, and everything went dark before I heard the growl of the bear once more.

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"So… How long has she been… Laying there?"

"'A bit. She was being chased by a bear."

"What?...Cook!"

"Yeah, Naoms?"

"You going to stop staring at her tits any time soon?"

"haha. Probably not… Are you?"

"…Tosser."

"Shhh, I think she's wakin' up."

I opened my eyes to see two people staring over at me curiously.

"What's.. going on?" I asked trying to sit up. Everything spun around, and I felt a wave of dizziness take over before strong hands gently pushed me back down.

"Woah there, Red!" Laughed the guy holding me down, I think I remember him being called "Cook", "You got hit pretty hard."

".. What do you mean, she got hit? I thought you said she was being chased..?" Asked the girl next to him.

My head hurt so bad it was hard for me to concentrate.

"Well I kinda' ran into her.. On accident." He said looking slightly embarrassed.

"Do you have anything I can…" I was trying to ask for meds, but I gave up mid sentence closing my eyes really tight.

"PANDA!" Cook shouted. I closed my eyes tighter trying to shut out the pounding in my head.

"Cook you twat, keep it down! She's got a concussion or something." The girl whisper shouted. If I hadn't been in so much pain I probably would have chuckled. But fuck, this hurt.

"What's up?" asked another girl quickly walking towards us.

"Panda, give'r some of your magic shit and make her feel top again." Cook said pointing to me.

"Who'se that? She's pretty!"

"She's uh… Uh," cook leaned close to my ear and whispered, "What's your name, babes?"

"It doesn't fucking matter, Cook she's in pain. Pandora, just give her something, alright?" The girl said. I felt extremely grateful for her presence.

"Okay, okay… uhm.. oh!" Pandora disappeared, and then quickly ran back with a vile of some sort. It was holding some kind of neon green liquid.

"Drink this." She said. I didn't question it, I just downed the odd substance. It tasted horrible. I coughed a few times, and wiped my mouth.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Pandora exclaimed, "I haven't figured out how to make it not horrible! It seemed like it'd be super-duper easy, but it's totally not! Putting more stuff in just makes it worse! Here!"

She handed me a glass of water and I quickly gulped it down. My head immediately felt better.

"Thank you.. And it's okay." I reassured her. She had really been panicked. She relaxed a bit, and skipped back out of the room.

"It's nice to meet you Emily!" She called as she left.

I frowned, I didn't remember telling her my name.

"She's a witch," Explained the next to me girl shrugging like it wasn't a big deal. I realized that I couldn't remember her name being mentioned, although I was almost sure it had been. I sighed, and lay back down.

Suddenly I recalled the wardrobe, and the bear, and… Katie. Shit. She's probably wondering where I am. I couldn't imagine how she would react to this. What if she tried looking for me?

"Relax." The girl said. I turned to her, and froze.

I hadn't really looked at her before – I was a bit distracted, but she was impossibly beautiful with her blonde hair that had a slight wave to it, and her smooth skin, amazing smile, and pink lips. I actually gasped when I saw the best part. Her eyes.

I felt myself blush when she raised her eyebrows and grinned smugly.

I quickly looked away, and started to get up again.

"I have to go." I said.

"Where to? We'll take ya! Naomi and me." Cook said with a hopeful grin.

Naomi? I smiled, I liked that name a lot.

I realized I had yet to answer Cook's question.

"To the wardrobe." I said quickly. They looked at me like I was mad, and then cook leaned in to whisper loudly into Naomi's ear.

"..I think she might need more of Pandora's serum."

"No! I do not!"

"No no no, I've heard this one before.. You know? The Legend of Aslan?" Naomi said.

"Aslan.. Like, the Lion. HA! What does that have to do with a bloody wardrobe? You're as mad as Red here." Cook laughed.

"Fuck off." Naomi said rolling her eyes.

"Alright, we'll accompany you to your wardrobe then." Cook said with a laugh.

"She's telling the truth, Cook. She's a daughter of Eve." Shouted another voice I didn't recognize from the other room.

Jesus, How many people lived here?

A look of realization covered both Naomi and Cook's faces at that fact. I frowned again, and looked towards the door, "I really have to go.. Are you coming or not?"

"Um… Sure." Naomi said standing up, and walking towards the door with me. Suddenly I heard a clicking noise from behind me. I turned around, and felt myself lose balance at what I saw.

Cook had hooves.

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**guys..guys...guys..  
****How mad at me are you?  
****Mad? Hmm?  
****Whatever, I love this. haha.  
****Tell me what you think, yeah?**

**-P**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **So, If you've fully recovered from that last bit and you are continuing on reading this story than I give you a metaphorical box of Turkish Delight, and another of Garibaldis.

This chapter is in Naomi's point of View. Thought I'd switch it up a bit.  
I really liked the idea of Naomi being a book worm, interested in.. "Muggles"? (Lacking a better word at the moment)  
So, yeah, she is a smartie.  
Anyway, I hope you like this bit.  
And leave a review so I know you exist!

**Disclaimer: **_not even._

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**Chapter3.**

Jesus Christ, this girl blacked out a lot. I mean, I understand that seeing that Cook had four legs instead of the apparently expected two would be a little shocking, but.. Really?

Anyway, We obviously didn't know where her wardrobe was so we brought her into my room and lay her down on the bed. It was a lot quieter in there because it was a bit more separate from the other rooms. I liked it that way because I needed quiet for my reading, and I was definitely not a morning person and liked to sleep in as late as I possibly could without being bothered. I think everyone else appreciated my space too because if I'm grumpy, you sure as fuck will be as well.

I had to explain to Cook about the differences between her world and ours, and I picked out some books from my shelves to show him some illustrations thinking that would help. He tried to follow along at first, but then decided he would rather piss off, and find something to eat.

I knew a lot about everything, but mostly just from reading. I didn't really like people that much, and before I came here I spent all my time in my rooms with the books my mum would give me. I loved reading, which was a very good thing since it ended up being the only thing I could do after my father got a hold of me…

I put the books back onto the large bookcase on my wall, and sat down in the seat across from the bed.

I was beginning to feel kind of awkward sitting there with a stranger asleep on my bed, and I was contemplating making my exit, but then she rolled onto her side and sighed something random, and I couldn't bring myself to tear my eyes away.

She was quite beautiful.. For a human from the wardrobe realm. Not that I've ever actually seen one in real life until now (the only ones known to come from a wardrobe were the Royal Pevensie's, but that was ages ago) but I had read loads about them, and they were supposed to be slightly dull compared to the people here, but I found myself disagreeing. My ancestors were from the Kingdom of Archenland, but she didn't seem to be any less dull than myself.. Quite the opposite actually, what with her bright red hair and suiting features. I should find that book, and see who wrote it because they had to be biased to write such a thing. Especially since I'm looking at the most beautiful creature I have ever set my eyes o-

"NAOMS! WHERE IS THE SALT?"

I sighed to myself and frowned.

_What the fuck was that all about?_

I shook my head, erasing the random irrelevant thoughts that had been filling it, and stood up, making my way into the kitchen to help my helpless centaur friend.

"NAOMIIIII!" he called again.

"I'm coming! Fuck's sake, Keep your vagina on!"

When I got in the kitchen it was pitch dark, and I couldn't see a thing.

"Erm.. Cook?.. Cook, what the fu-"

"SURPRISE!" I jumped as my eyes grew wide, and the candles flickered on to reveal all of my friends smiling brightly at me. Freddie, his dark hair grown slightly over his eyes. JJ at his side, his curls cascading over his pointed hobbit ears. Effy, standing to the left of everyone watching me with the usual smirk set on her face. Pandora in the middle holding a very colourful cake. Thomas smiling at her kindly. And Cook standing behind everyone with his arms wide out above his head, and a silly grin on his face.

"What the... How the _fuck_ did you guys know it was my Birthday?" I asked. I was sure I had never mentioned it, and god knows they didn't ask my father.

"We've got two witches over here, 'member, mate? You couldn't think we'd let you skip your birthday!" Cook said pushing his way to the front to give me a bear of a hug, Freddie complaining when one of Cook's hooves stepped on one of his feet.

"Holy-moley, Cook! I'm not a witch! I don't do that _hocusy pocusy_ stuff Effy does, I just heal and stuff!" Pandora said nearly dropping the cake. Thomas caught it before it hit the ground, and smiled at her reassuringly as he handed it back to her.

I rolled my eyes before smiling a bit and hugging him back before he pulled back and said, "Now, don't get me wrong, the Cookie monsta' loves himself some lovin', but this is a party! LET'S GET FOOKIN' MENTAL, YEAH?"

Everyone cheered, the alcohol was poured, the cake was cut, and the music was up.

I had to admit that it did feel pretty good to be celebrating something again, even if it was at my expense. It had been so long since we'd been able to go out and have fun. The world was changing, and we had to stay hiding if we wanted to stay alive.

I felt a sudden pang of gilt rush through me before I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Why_ hello_ there," Freddy slurred in a strange foreign accent that definitely did not belong to him as he raised an eyebrow and reached for my hand," Care for a dance?"

I laughed and complied as he dragged me out to the center of the room that had been cleared for dancing.

I spun myself around and bumped hips with Pandora who was waving her arms spastically in the air, and lolled my head around until I found Effy. She looked frozen, and her arms were straight at her sides. Her pupils were huge, and her face was emotionless. Our eyes met, and I could suddenly hear her speaking in my head.

"We need to hide."

I reached over and turned off the music, and the room was filled with a bunch of confused protests about the abrupt change of environment. They all shut up when they saw my facial expression. I have no idea what it was. Panic? Worry maybe?

"What's wrong, Naoms?" Freddy asked, the room quickly sobering up at the realization of how serious this was.

"They are coming." I said. We all blew out the candles and started quickly towards the hatch in the floorboards that led to the tunnel that had been dug out ages ago for this exact reason. Everyone started to climb down the tunnel, and I made sure the front door was latched tightly before following.

Suddenly my memory of earlier events of the day flickered back into my head.

"Shit… Shit, Emily." I said quickly.

"Fuck Naomi, hurry up!" shouted Cook, the panic evident in his voice.

I climbed back into the house and ran into my room making my way towards the still sleeping Emily, and poking at her until she woke up.

"What….. wha?"

"Emily, quick we need to get out of here." I said grabbing my bag and dropping some clothes from my floor and other random stuff into it as quickly as I could before slinging it over my back and grabbing her hand and tugging her back into the front room, and telling her to climb down the ladder.

She peered up at me confused just before the sound of hooves began to crescendo towards the house.

Emily must have read the panic in my eyes because she quickly clambered down the ladder, and I followed, latching the wood back to its former position and pulling the string we had attached to the rug to cover the door.

We sat huddled in the dark under the house, and heard a loud banging noise before footsteps were audible from right above our heads.

"Don't move." Effy whispered as she stood and started to mumble spells under her breath, her eyes closed, and her hands extended above her head.

There was another loud noise, much louder than the last and the ground shook slightly before there was nothing but complete silence. I cringed when felt fingers twine themselves with mine, and was about to pull away when I realized they were Emily's, and that she was shaking slightly. I squeezed her hand and gave her a reassuring look before she shut her eyes again and took a deep breath.

None of us dared move an inch for a good five minutes, but then Effy turned and started walking down the tunnel. We all threw each other confused looks until Cook shrugged and everyone but Emily and I followed the witch down the tunnel.

I reached into my pack and pulled out a candle, and it flickered to life automatically.

"Thanks Eff." I whispered, sure she could hear me.

I stood up, and brought Emily with me. Her brown eyes were full of questions, but she didn't speak.

"I'm sorry. " I said as we started to follow the rest of the gang. I didn't know what else to say. This was all my fault and she didn't even know what was going on. It was hardly fare.

We walked for hours. Emily kept hold of my hand, which did bother me a little, but I didn't dare move it considering all of what just happened. I'd get my space back once we took her back to her wardrobe.

I had no idea how to explain this to the poor girl, or even if I was going to. It seemed she would have to stick with us for a bit now that we were making our way further and further away from where Cook found her in the first place.

"We're nearly there." Effy said, her voice echoing slightly in the once silent cave.

I heard Emily let out a breath, and I turned to look at her noticing how exhausted she looked.

"Cook," I said turning to look at my four-legged friend. He stopped moving and turned his head to the side to glance at me.

"Yeah, babes?"

"Would you mind.. Uh.." I nodded towards Emily who was slightly leaning into my side. Cook laughed,

"Would I mind letting a beautiful babe ride on my back? You're kiddin' me. O'course not! Up en attem, Emilio." He said trotting completely around and picking up the girl.

"Hey!" She protested, letting go of my hand as Cook set her on his back.

"Just let your legs rest, babes. You're only a.. What did you call 'er Naoms?" Cook said turning his torso around and raising a brow at the blonde.

"A human Cook." I said bored, rolling my eyes. Cook turned back around pleased.

"Yeah, a human, but like from the wardrobe place er whatever.. That's what you are." He said with a grin as he galloped forward towards the front with Effy, "Naoms is a human too. She's a book worm, always reading some kind of shit or another. I hate reading it…"

I rolled my eyes, and stopped listening to his rambling, and turned to Pandora who was humming to herself. She looked over at me and smiled before her eyebrows knit together.

"Did you like your cake?" she asked. I chuckled; she would be worried about something silly like that at a time like this.

"Yes, Panda," I said with a nod, "It was lovely. Thank you."

She seemed pleased as she went back to her humming.

"Some birthday that was, yeah?" Freddie chuckled nudging my arm, and pushing his hands deep into the pockets of his trousers.

"It was.. Eventful." I said with a small smile.

"That it was." He said as we started making our way towards a brightness at the end of the tunnel.

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	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **

I drew some stuff for this fanfic in my spare time, and I'm going to upload them when the moments come up in the story. Like a picture book. haha. :)

Since I don't know what I'm doing on here I uploaded the picture to muh Tumbluh. So just copy the link, get rid of the spaces and do the dot com thing in the parenthesis.

here is illustration #1:

mycardiacmuscleisyours. tumblr (dot com)/tagged/nvrt

anyway, Enjoy!

-Parker

**Disclaimer: Just a fan.**

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**Chapter4.**

It was snowing.

I could have sworn that when I had first arrived here (which could only have been a few hours ago, although I'm not completely sure thanks to my newly acquired habit of blacking out) it had been an extremely beautiful day, and now I was sitting on the back of a centaur shivering while huddling into his fur for warmth.

Everyone else seemed fine, though.

Pandora and the girl in the front (I had yet to learn her name) had on simple blouses, and they weren't quivering a bit. Cook wasn't even WEARING a shirt for Christ's sake, and here I was shivering like the puny little human I am.

I glanced at Naomi. She had a coat on which she had pulled out of her bag earlier, and a rather comfortable looking sweatshirt under that I was completely jealous of...

I mean I was jealous of her for.. Having the sweatshirt. Not jealous of the sweatshirt for being on.. Her...

Anyway, I shut my eyes for a few seconds and let out a sigh.

We had been travelling for what felt like ages now, and had been walking down a path in the woods religiously since exiting the tunnel, and although I was hitching a ride, I was tired.

Katie had kept me up all night yapping about Danny, and the only sleep I had gotten had been back in Naomi's room before we were forced to go on the run.

Unfortunately, I was far too wound up to sleep now. I had calmed down a bit after Naomi had reassured me that time halted when entering another realm, but I was still feeling uneasy. Every noise I would hear coming from the trees above and around us made me jump. I was on edge, and I had no idea what it even was I was scared of. All I knew was that they were dangerous, and that this lot was afraid of them.

"We aren't afraid. We just aren't ready." said a voice to my left.

I jolted upwards and turned to find the girl who had previously been leading the group standing behind Naomi with her arms around her waist and her chin resting on her shoulder.

I felt a weird sensation course through my chest, and felt myself frown slightly before the girl chuckled to herself and let go of Naomi, stepping away with a knowing look which only confused me more.

"My name is Effy," she said," and it's nice to meet you."

She held out her hand to me and I hesitated.

"How did you-"

"I'm a witch. I'm also a bit.. Psychic." She said calmly waving her hand out in front of me. I nodded before grabbing it and shaking.

She smirked, and turned her gaze to the sky,

"Naoms, it seems as though we may need to find a clearing and set up camp. It's getting too dark, and they won't bother looking for us out here." she said airily.

Naomi nodded in agreement before turning to a skinny tan boy with pointed ears peaking out of his dark shaggy hair and saying, "Freddy, would you mind?"

The boy, Freddy, who was obviously an elf of some sort, smiled broadly to himself and shut his eyes in concentration, everyone paused and waited as he did so.

"There is a meadow about half a mile from here north." he stated.

"Brilliant." Cook said with a grin.

I turned my glance and saw Naomi looking at me with a concerned expression set on her face.

I tried to smile a bit to reassure her I was okay, but my teeth rattled together as a breeze picked up.

She quickly threw off her jacket and removed her sweatshirt before slipping her jacket back on and holding the sweatshirt back to me. I took it, shooting a grateful smile her way before quickly slipping it on over my head. It was dark grey, lined with wool on the inside with a thin brown leather tie to adjust the collar, and luckily, it was extremely warm.

I snuggled back into Cook's fur, shut my eyes again and sighed contently when I realised how good it smelt.

"You enjoyin' the ride on the cookie express, Red?" came Cook's confident voice. I laughed,

"As inappropriate as that sounds, yes actually, I am. Thank you."

"No problem. Just promise me you'll be givin' me a piggy back ride when I get tired, and we'll call it even."

He turned and flashed a smile in my direction and I laughed again.

I liked this guy, he was funny.

When we got to the clearing it was quickly being covered with snow, so everyone quickly picked up the equipment Naomi had pulled out of her Magical-Mary-Poppins-Bag, and got to work. The meadow wasn't too large, but it wasn't small either. It's green-covered ground quickly being replaced with a thick white blanket of snow as the gang pitched three tents surrounding the outskirts of the trees, and began to load them with blankets.

Eventually, I ended up in a tent with Pandora and her boyfriend, Thomas. He was very kind, and soft-spoken with a sweat French accent, and just from seeing them together for about two minutes I could tell how much in love they were. It was adorable, and I felt myself smiling to myself as I pulled the blankets snugly around me and listened to Panda blab about nothing in particular.

It was slightly difficult for me to keep up with her, she was constantly changing the subject, but I nodded and smiled adding something in myself whenever I thought appropriate. I liked her, she was silly.

I heard shuffling near the entrance of our tent before the flap was lifted, and Naomi poked her head in. She smiled at us half-heartedly, and fiddled with the side of the tent flap with one hand before she said,

"We'll be leaving for the fort tomorrow morning, so make sure you are up and ready once the sun is up."

Pandora nodded at this and plopped back onto her blankets next to Thomas who held up a thumbs-up in Naomi's direction.

I turned back to look at Naomi who was looking at nothing in particular on the grass covering the bottom of the tent before she brought her gaze up to meet mine. Her cheeks were flushed from the cold, and she gulped visibly before nodding and mumbling a "goodnight" in my direction before shutting the tent back up.

I heard someone chuckle from outside followed by Naomi defensively saying "Piss off, Eff." before the night went silent. I smiled at that, and fell into a deep sleep.

.~'.~'.~'.~'

I woke up to a loud noise outside, and muffled curse words before the tent was opened by an alarmed looking lad with curly hair, JJ.

"Sorry to alarm you all, but it seems as though.. Well there has been some kind of mingling with.. What I mean to say is the sun has disappeared." He stuttered.

I frowned and watched as Thomas got up, and threw his shirt on over his head before exiting the tent.

"We need to start packing. The sun didn't rise like we anticipated," came Effy's voice from outside.

"What time is it?" asked Thomas.

"Around ten, the wind is picking up, so it would be best we take these tents down now before it gets too overwhelming," said Freddie.

I stood up, and wiped my eyes with a yawn before waking Pandora up, and telling her we had to get going. She nodded and followed me out of the tent, blankets in hand.

Within ten minutes Pandora, Cook, Effy, Thomas, Freddy, JJ, Naomi and I were all on our way, and I was glad that I finally knew all of their names. At least I knew something about this strange place.

Pandora confirmed last night that I would be with them for a while, although she didn't go into detail about what it was we were running from. She did tell me that we would have to go into hiding for a bit in a fort they used to live in during "the war".

I had thousands of questions, but I never had the chance to ask them, and I wasn't quite sure who I should be asking in the first place. It was starting to frustrate me how I was being so obviously shut out.

"something wrong?" asked Effy from my side. We were walking a bit behind the others and I had been so deep in thought I hadn't even noticed her there. Her tone irritated me, and she was giving me that stupid all knowing smirk again.

"Me? No, I'm perfectly fine. I love being confused." I said, my voice thick with sarcasm.

"Have you asked?" she asks raising her eyebrows.

I sighed, "Not exactly, but wouldn't at least one person consider how confused I am? The only person to even try to explain something to me was Pandora and... I don't know, I'm just confused."

I frowned to myself for a bit before looking towards Effy once I had realized she hadn't responded yet.

She chuckled under her breath.

"We all have a lot on our minds, Emily. Our families are gone, and we are running from a man who wants us dead. So I apologize if we aren't exactly meeting your needs."

"I didn't mean it like that."

Effy smiled to herself and lifted her gaze to the black sky.

"I know."

This only confused me more. Why did Effy have to be so frustrating? Honestly. She wasn't helping at all, and she obviously wasn't planning on it so what was the point in asking in the first place?

"You still haven't asked." she said airily, her eyes still locked to the sky above.

I decided to play along. I wasn't getting anywhere anyway.

"Could you please just tell me what's going on?" I sighed.

"No."

This response did not surprise me.

"And would you mind explaining why not?"

"Because it's impossible to grasp correctly without experiencing it. Seeing it. It's too painful." she said calmly.

I sighed and stared at my feet as we followed the others down the trail.

"Would you like to see?"

I raised an eyebrow and turned my head to see that she was looking at me once more.

"Wha-"

"I mean, I could show you. In here." she brought a finger to my face and pointed to my forehead, gesturing slightly to clarify that it was my mind she was speaking of.

"You would have to relax though. Or it won't work."

"I am relaxed." I said folding my arms across my chest.

She laughed, and turned her head towards Naomi before nodding her over.

"erm... What's up?" Naomi asked.

Effy leaned over and whispered something into Naomi's ear, and I watched as Naomi's eyebrows shot up and her cheeks flushed again.

"Eff I-"

Effy shook her head and laughed before whispering something else to her and then flicking her ear playfully.

I looked away. They seemed so comfortable with each other, and it made me feel uncomfortable. It didn't make sense though, because I didn't feel this way seeing Thomas and Pandora around each other.

I was trying to consider reasonable explanations for my odd reaction when I suddenly felt a warm hand in mine. My stomach dropped when I realized how familiar it felt.

Naomi.

I had been holding it for hours yesterday, and I would recognize that touch anywhere. It felt amazing. Comforting.

It calmed me instantly, just like it had done yesterday, and if it hadn't I sure as hell would have been overcome with another rush of confusion directed towards.. Other things.

"Don't move." I heard Naomi whisper softly in my ear.

I stopped walking and closed my eyes. I could feel her breath on my face, as she whispered for me to relax.

I almost laughed. I was so relaxed at that moment that a tree could have fallen inches away from our faces and I wouldn't have even flinched.

Naomi chuckled and squeezed my hand softly before letting it go.

"Go ahead, Eff."

I watched as Effy placed her hands on my face and stared into my eyes.

I heard screaming as the colours in her eyes shifted from blue to green to brown until a mixture of colours filled my head.

Effy was gone, and so was the forest.

I was alone in a stone corridor as I watched as someone rounded the Corner to my right and stopped in front of me.

"Elizabeth," they said.

Elizabeth? Clearly they couldn't be speaking to me.

I wanted to turn my head to look behind me for another person, but I couldn't move.

"Tony.. What is it? Is something wrong?" I asked.

What the fuck? Who is Tony?

And why did I just-

"it's mum... She... She's..." suddenly "tony"'s eyes closed and tears escaped them.

I felt myself running down the corridor past tony and towards a large door. I opened it, but it was empty. I cried out in pain and sunk to the floor.

Then I saw colours again, this time reds and oranges, yellows and black, until I was on a cliff overlooking a large gate leading to a large castle surrounded by an assortment of strange trees.

I looked at the fence as it was jerked open by four large men. Too large to be human.

"There's mum." came Tony's voice from beside me. I felt my hand reach out, and hold his.

Entering the gate was a line of people. Their heads were all bowed and their arms were chained as well as their legs. They walked in a line towards the large stone building, as the giant men spat in their direction laughing mercilessly.

"This is horrible." I said.

Tony pointed a finger to the top of the gate. There above the opening carved into the dark metal was the word "witches" gleaming orange as if it were on fire.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned to find a much younger Naomi looking at me intently. She had a gash on her cheek, and blood was dripping down it slowly soaking into her shirt.

"I'm Naomi. I'm on your side. Please, follow me."

I nodded, "my name is Effy, and this is my brother."

Then I saw colours again and eventually found myself in a forest. It was too bright to be present day so I knew I was still in effy's memories.

I heard a scream, as I saw a figure appear from the woods. He wore a deep red cloak, and had familiar piercing blue eyes. But what frightened me was his smile. It was so beautiful that it couldn't be real.

"Little Liza has come to play has she?" he said holding out his arms.

"what have you done?" I scream between sobs.

"what have I done? Ha! This was you! You did this! All you needed to do was give her back to me and no one would have been hurt."

Lie.

I could feel his lie. His mind was so easy to read.

Like a book..

all I had to do was-

"your brother would have made a lovely addition to my garden. It's a shame he couldn't hold still though."

"what the fuck are you talking about you psycho?"

The man laughed,

"I thought you could read my mind. Like a book, was it?"

Shit.

"You see this lovely tree right here," he said tracing his hand over the red bark, roughly tearing off a chunk of the wood as he grazed the trunk,

"Well," he laughed," let's just say your brother is now one with nature. Isn't that right Tony?"

He patted the tree as a breeze picked up causing the leaves to wave frantically.

I screamed and launched myself at the man, shaking violently.

He laughed and grabbed me by the front of my shirt.

"Oh, little Elizabeth. You shouldn't disobey your elders. It's rude. Didn't your mother teach you that?"

He smiled again and I felt tears falling down my cheeks before he dropped me to the floor and disappeared.

_I was alone._

The colours returned once more, this time slowly shifting into each other until I felt myself back in reality staring into darkness and Effy's blue eyes.

Tears were streaking down her cheeks and Naomi quickly moved her hands across them wiping them away, and pulling her into a hug.

I couldn't move.

What I had just seen was the most terrifying collection of events I had ever experienced and I suddenly understood our need to hide away.

Effy gently pushed Naomi away, giving her a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

Her tears had subsided and she was suddenly back to her indifferent expression.

She looked back at me wordlessly, and then smirked before turning and walking ahead of everyone.

"Let's go, we are almost there." she said.

Everyone started to move again, but I couldn't find my feet.  
I suddenly felt an abundance of respect for Effy. She had lost her mother, and her brother as well.

I couldn't imagine losing someone that close to me. I suddenly really missed Katie, and it only made me want to get home faster.

"Emily," I heard Naomi say from beside me.

"Naomi." I mumbled.

She bit her lip and furrowed her brow. It was rather cute.

"Look, I know that may have been a bit much, but I promise I'll help you understand better once we get to the fort. We aren't safe here." She said.

I nodded, and took a deep breath before giving her a smile and walking forward with the girl at my side.

Cook trotted to my side and shot me a smile.

"I know you didn't sign up for this, but I'm glad you're here, Emilio.. Despite the putting your life in danger stuff." He said with a grin.

I couldn't help but smile back.

"Me too, Cook." I said.  
And it makes me sound completely insane, but to be honest, I was... Well, besides "Putting my life in danger stuff".

"You're in for quite an adventure, my friend." Thomas said patting my back.

I caught Naomi's eye and she smiled at me I grinned back.

"I sure am, Thomas."

.~'.~'.~'.~'.~'.~'.~'.~'.~'.~'.~'.~'.~'.~'.~'.~'.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Finally updating!  
I've been in New York without a laptop, and I haven't been able to upload this Chapter, but now I have a Laptop to work with! (Applause)

Sorry if there are spelling and or grammar errors. I typed it up on my phone, and it was .  
but yeah..Enjoy! Maybe leave a review?  
You guys are awesome.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Skins on Mondays.

* * *

**Chapter5.**

We arrived at the fort that night. It was a secret underground cave completely unseen from above ground.

A lever disguised as a tree branch was pulled revealing an opening in the thick tree stump, and we quickly made our way into it. The opening shut behind us as a staircase was lit automatically with lanterns lining a descending tunnel.

I followed behind as we traveled lower and lower into the ground until the wall to my right disappeared, revealing a large underground cave.

The cave was well lit with lanterns and candles and some kind of magical unknown source, so I took this time to observe from above as I walked down the stairs towards the ground.

The cave was round with four doors spread along the wall which was dug into stone with roots from trees reaching through. There were various weapons hanging on the walls on hooks, and chests at the ground below them.

In the center of the cave was a large table aligned with chairs, and across from that was a simple kitchen area, and a fireplace storing a large cauldron.

When we had finished climbing down the stairs everyone took a seat at the table. I sat down in a chair between panda and jj, and turned my gaze to naomi who was fidgeting under the table nervously.

I wanted to reach over and comfort her for once, but I was sitting two people away from her so that wasn't going to work out.

"so, what's the plan, Naomi?" asked panda from beside me.

Naomi jumped slightly before looking up at us and smiling,

"I will be speaking to kieran later today in seek of advi-"  
"KIERAN? no fuckin' way! I want to go!" Cook said smiling broadly with excitement.

Naomi rolled her eyes and leaned on her elbow on the table.

"fine." she sighed, a soft smile set on her lips.  
"you should take Emily too," said Effy smirking at Naomi," I'm sure she would love to meet Kieran."

Naomi glared at Effy before turning her gaze to me, and softening her expression.

"Emilio, you've got to come! This guy is hilarious, you'll love 'im!" cook said standing up and walking towards the fridge to pull out a beer.

"sure." I said slowly not meeting Naomi's eyes. Scared of what I may find there this time. It was possible she didn't want me to go, but I really wanted to.

"actually cook. I need your help here. We need to make precautions around the tree and Freddy is going to need some extra muscle to help him out." Effy said calmly.

She made this statement sound like an afterthought, but I really doubted that.

"Oh," cook said with a frown, "well.. Shit."  
Everyone laughed at his stumped facial expression before Naomi stood up and walked over to me, offering me her hand.

"Shall we?" I nodded as she lead me through one of the doors.  
On the other side of the door another room was dug out. It was much smaller, filled with even more weapons, and more chests.

"You ever shot a bow before?" she asked holding out a bow and arrows to me. I nodded, my dad had taken me bow hunting before he lost his gym. We used to go out into the forest and shoot at cans for fun. I never shot an animal though. I used to miss on purpose and let them scatter away. I think my dad knew this, but he played along anyway.

I reached out and took the equipment from her before she started to dig in the chest and grabbed a few leather pieces for me to put on.

"Just in case." she said handing them to me and helping me strap the brown leather vest on. When she finished she smiled at me, grabbed a sword and slipped a leather vest over herself. She quickly tied it up and threw on a cloak before putting her sword in her belt.  
She grabbed my hand and lead us back out the door.

"You guys heading out?" Freddie asked as he dug a fork into a piece of pie that pandora had given him.  
"yup. We'll be back later tonight. Should be a quick visit." Naomi said as we started up the stairs towards the secret entrance way.

As we walked through the woods I realised how relaxed our conversation had been. She asked me about my family and I told her about Katie and James. I told her about my dad losing his gym and about how my mother and my aunt didn't get on well. She listened and laughed occasionally, and I couldn't remember anymore why I was in such a hurry to get home. Naomi was so wonderful to be around I really didn't want to go. It was weird that I had only known her for two days. It was then that I realised I didn't know much about her family. I felt rude for not asking, but I also really wanted to know. She was so interesting she must have a just as interesting family. Her parents were probably stunning as well.

"Tell me about you. About your family." I said. She stopped walking, and suddenly looked really nervous.

Was that a weird thing to ask? No, it couldn't have been because she had just asked me that same thing and I answered without a problem..

I heard a sound from my right and Naomi quickly turned her gaze and pulled her sword out of her belt just before three men jumped through with swords in their hands. The first guy to come through had blonde hair and a weird mustache. The second and third men had long brown hair, but one was shorter than both the first and the second guy.

"Ya thinks it's her? The king would be annoyed if I didn't bring him the right body back. So do ya?" the first man asked as they surrounded us.  
"yup look at them eyes they-"  
" you should probably get the fuck away from us." Naomi said relaxing as she rested her sword on her shoulder and crossed her legs.

The shortest man laughed loudly and took a step forward pointing his sword at Naomi's heart.  
"An' why would that be ay? What's a pretty girl like you gonna do if I don't?" The other men laughed as they walked closer.  
"When I kill you I'm gonna be so rich and famous that I'll be able to buy anything I want. Even this fit girl right here." the short man said pointing his sword at Emily," that's right babe, you'll be doing things to me that you never imagined you would ever b-"

There was the a thick liquidy sound as Naomi stuck her sword into the mans chest. She lowered him to the ground as he gasped for air before bringing her face inches from him and angrily whispering, You will _never_ touch her." she then pulled her sword out and turned to the other men who stood there with shocked expressions on their faces and said,

"who the fuck is next."

They quickly stood themselves straight and lunged at Naomi. There was a loud battle of clinging swords as naomi fought them off with a smug look set on her face, her lips in a careless smile. She backed up to a tree and raised an eyebrow at the men as they followed her, swords still clinging.

She jumped over one of the men's swings at her feet and ducked over the others before she sighed dramatically and leaned against the tree.

"You guys look, I'm tired. Let's take five." she said mockingly whipping at her forehead with a hand.  
The men looked confused.  
"Like fuck! I ain't takin' no break! I'm Gonna kill you, drag your bloody body to the king an' then get revenge by fucking your pretty li'l girlfriend over there for killin 'im over there" one of the men said holding his sword out at her chest.

I was terrified, what was she doing?

"Suits yourself." she shrugs before swiping a twig over her head and watching as a thick loose branch fell onto the men knocking them completely unconscious. She grunted and wiped her hands together before standing on the branch and staring down at the kings three men.  
"Idiots." she said.

She then turned to me as though she had forgotten I was there. She frowned slightly as she bashfully looked back down at the men and told me not to look. I closed my eyes as she killed the last man and Cleaned her sword with a rag before stuffing it back in to her belt strap.  
I heard her sigh from behind my closed lips before her footsteps started again and she mumbled,

"Let's go."  
I turned and followed her at her suddenly faster pace. It was too fast, actually, and I ended up tripping three times in just 2 minutes.

"Naomi," I said. She ignored me so I tried again, this time with a more assertive tone, " Naomi!" She still ignored me. I tripped again and stopped moving all together. I sighed,  
"'Naoms, please slow down."

She slowly came to a stop before she dropped her head and turned around to walk back to me and then stopping right in front of where I stood.

"Are you alright?" I asked reaching out and lifting her chin up to face me. She closed her eyes and frowned,

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

This surprised me so I chuckled slightly,  
"Why would you have to ask me that?"

"I'm sorry, I got carried away. Those men.. I mean, you had to see me. I probably-"

I pulled her into a hug and kissed her cheek.

"Naomi," I said smiling at the blush that had just covered her face," you just saved my life. Don't apologize."  
I grabbed her hand in mine and started our walk again.

"So... You didn't think that was scary?" she asked.

I laughed,  
"well I thought it was at first... But then you started kicking ass, and I just thought it was ho-" I quickly stopped talking.

Fuck. I hope she hadn't been listening.

I had almost called her "hot" and that wasn't something people normally just spat out at times like this. She had just murdered three people for fucks sake! I quickly scanned my brain and tried to think of something else to say that started with "ho".

Horrific? No, that would condescend everything I was just saying..

Homely? No, that's awkwardly random.

Ho- erm... I couldn't think of anything so I just looked down at my feat as I felt my face and neck heat up.

She chuckled from beside me.

"You think I'm hot." she said. It wasn't a question.

I looked up at her and she had her eyebrows raised in a cocky manner. I scoffed and slapped her arm. She laughed and bit her lip,  
"Oi! That hurt!" she teased pushing me away. I smiled and kicked a rock at the ground mid step. Suddenly i felt hot breath on my face and heard her whisper,  
"I think you're quite hot too, Emily Fitch."

My head shot upwards but she was already turning down a path at my left.

I followed her and saw she was walking towards a hut tucked cutely in the trees.

"Tease." I mumbled before she broke out laughing, and started up to the porch.

She knocked twice before the door was violently thrown open and a man emerged clutching Naomi in a tight hug, and lifting her off the ground.  
He was a scruffy looking man with reddish hair and a beard. He was smiling so big at seeing Naomi that I couldn't help liking him automatically.

"Kieran you big awkward bastard put me down!" she laughed.  
He chuckled and set her down before mussing her hair and turning to me.

"Well why don't you two come in, and then you," he pointed to Naomi," can introduce me to this beautiful young lady!" His Irish accent was lovely and his voice was warm and welcoming as he walked back into the house and motioned us in.

I shut the door behind me and Naomi instructed for me to lock it, which I was already doing. She smiled at me and then sat down at a table, plopping her feet onto it, and leaning back in her chair. "Kieran, this is Emily, and before you get all annoying, no she isn't my girlfriend." she said beaconing for me to sit by her. I sat in he seat next to her at the table and smiled at Kieran.  
He smiled back,  
"nice to meet you Emily." he said.  
"It's very nice to meet you as well." I said.

He stood there awkwardly fiddling with his fingers until he jumped up and laughed nervously,  
"Oh crap, I'm a shite host. Would you like some tea?" he asked turning to start boiling some water.  
"Fucks sake Kieran, calm down, yeah?" Naomi laughed.  
He chuckled as he left the water to boil, and sat down across from us.  
"So," he said resting his foot on his knee and leaning back in his chair like Naomi had," did you guys get over here without any troubles? It's pretty dark I'm glad you could find the house."  
"Actually," I started, "we came across three men who wanted to fight. They were rude." I folded my arms across my chest and Naomi laughed.

"They were some of lord Rethland's men. Idiots." she rolled her eyes.

I frowned,  
"Lord Rethland? Is that the man we're hiding from?" Naomi nodded and pointed a finger to the now boiling water on the stove. Kieran jumped up and took it off. He then poured it into three mugs he had prepared before handing me and Naomi ours.

"I think I recall promising you an explanation." she said taking her feet off the table, picking up her tea and taking a slow slip.

She swallowed and moaned in appreciation, which caused my stomach to drop awkwardly. I had just realized that i was staring and that I hadn't replied when she started to talk again.

"Lord Rethland is a very evil man.. He isn't of royal blood, but he rules non the less. He married the queen, and murdered her the next day. So I suppose he is the king but it's so fucked up that I don't really consider him one. He calls himself a 'Lord' anyway so I suppos-"

"Naomi we all know you love to go on and on about politics, but get to the fucking point already would you?" Kieran laughed. Naomi glared at him, and continued,

"Anyway, he made it a law to.. Well he segregated all the creatures into sections of the land. He made it clear that we are not aloud to mingle with creatures not of our kind, and that we must live within our marked limits."  
"Bit of a kill joy if you fancy a siren.. Well for the Sirens at least." Kieran mumbled. "anyway, he basically turns anyone that disobeys him into forest decor."

Naomi said stiffly.

"Excuse me?" I asked disgusted.  
"He turns 'em to trees, love. Or shrubs. I've seen him make shrubs before." Kieran said.  
"That's... Horrible." I said. Naomi nodded and looked away quickly, "what does he want with you?"

Naomi shot Kieran a quick look that I couldn't read before she said,  
"I used to steal from his village with JJ and Freddy. I made quite a profit off of it. Also, he is pissed that we aren't obeying his laws and he can't seem to catch up with us." she said with a smug smile set on her lips.

"Always on the move, as JJ would say." Kieran chuckled.

Naomi rolled her eyes at his little Star Wars/JJ joke, and set her tea down.

"The prophecy is all falling into place." Kieran said. Naomi laughed to herself and gave me a look that said "this fucker is crazy".  
"Look, in all seriousness, I need advice. I don't know where to go from here." she sighed.  
"you need to get to Rimbshei village just north from here. Should take you a week tops. They have an army there, and they could help," Kieran said," but you'll need to go quickly. Lord dick face hasn't made it there yet because he has been looking for you. It's probably next on his list."

"Okay.. Yeah, alright that sounds good." Naomi said.

"Were you guys planning in staying the night?" Kieran asked.

"No, we should probably get going." Naomi said.  
"you said three men found you guys? The king's?" Kieran asked as he poured himself a second cup.  
"Er, yeah?" Naomi said pushing her chair in. I stood up and pushed mine in as well.  
"Well that's odd. He always sends them in fours. You sure?"  
"Yeah, there were only three." I said.  
"did you check the bushes?" Kieran asked.

Naomi shook her head.  
"Nope! You're here tonight. C'mon you'r room is still the way you like it." "Kieran I'm sure I can take one guy no problem." Naomi said.  
"But can you take 80 men? He's probably reported back to the king by now. They know where you are. Well, the general area at least." he said. Naomi sighed and followed Kieran down the hall.  
"Fine, come on ems." she said.

I smiled to myself at the new nickname she had for me and followed them into another room. It was small, and had one bed in the middle of it.

"You've still got clothes in the dresser there and... Oh fuck it, you know where everything is." he said with a wave of his hand, " Anyway, I'm off to bed. See you in the morning. Nice to meet you Emily, Naomi's -not- girlfriend." he smiling and wiggled his eyebrows before shutting the door.

"Fucking tit." Naomi laughed shaking her head and making her way to the dresser, "I hope you don't mind.." she said motioning to the bed.  
I gulped, and smiled nervously,  
" nope. I.. Erm.. I don't mind."

She just looked at me for a moment before nodding to herself and reaching into her dresser and handing me something more comfortable to sleep in.

"Bathrooms right across the hall." she said pointing to the door.

I left and shut the door behind me before heading to the bathroom to change and wash my face. Once I felt comfortable and clean I walked back into the room were Naomi was already sitting in the bed with a lantern lit by a small table at her side reading a book with her hair pulled up and a cute pair of glasses resting on her perfect nose.

She looked beautiful.

She looked up from what she was reading marking her spot on the page with a finger and smiled at me. I smiled back and quickly made my way over and tucked myself under the covers next to her.  
She yawned and shut her book.

"I'm glad you came with me, Ems. I couldn't imagine sharing a bed with cook." she joked (cook doesn't sleep in a bed). I laughed and she blew the light out.

"'Night, Naomi."

"Sweet dreams, Emily."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** This chapter is a shorty, and it's in Naomi's POV.

Once again, I wrote it on my phone so I apologize for any errors.

**Hope you like it!****  
**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Skins on Wednesdays either.

* * *

**Chapter6.**

You can't tell people everything about you. It's impossible.

You can't always know everything about yourself because some things you do unthinkingly.

Things you don't even know you are doing.

Sometimes, when you do know something about yourself you wish that you didn't know .

And when you wish you were unaware of this particular piece of your life it's hard to share that thing with other people..

Sometimes you just can't.

I am Naomi campbell, and my mother's name was Gina Campbell. I take my mother's name because telling people my name was Naomi Rethlend would probably scare the shit out of them.

That's right.

Lord Rethlend of the fucking dark abyss of Hell is my father.

Unfortunately.

I lived with my mother for years hidden from him. Just the two of us. She never spoke of him, maybe it was easier for her not to. I never really questioned it, this was all I knew, and I was happy.

The night I was taken away from her was a night I will never be able to shake out of my head despite how young I was when it happened.

Since that night I found myself having nightmares of him. Every single night.

I had just turned 6, and I was awoken by a loud scream. I felt strong arms tear me away from my bed. My mum was pulling at me pleading for them to leave us alone, but the men just laughed and left her on the floor crying. We rode a horse to the end of the village and through a dark forest until we reached the Castle I would spend the next twelve years imprisoned in.

By my own father.

Those twelve years were horrid.  
I was not aloud to leave my room. I wasn't able to, really. The door was locked and occasionally guarded during special events.

He made sure no one in the outside world knew I existed.

So I read.

It was all I could do.  
I read adventure books, biographies, poetry, play writes, history books... Anything I could get my hands on.

I had one friend, she was the maid. She would come in once a week to clean up, and she would bring me my meals daily. That's how I got my books. She made me realize that not everyone was bad. Some people were kind... Like my mother had been..

My mum would come around to the fence every once in a while and try to talk the guards into letting her see me. They wouldn't let her, of course. I would watch quietly unseen from my room.  
I watched from my window as he turned her into a tree. I watched him laugh as her arms morphed into branches, and as she sunk into the ground, and into his demented little "garden".  
He smiled broadly as he turned his eyes to me. He knew I was watching. Of course he did.

I had never cried so much in my life.

That was on my 18th birthday.

The next night, after a day filled with sobbing for the loss of my mother, I awoke to the sound of my door being dragged open. I quickly sat up to find the maid.

"Naomi.. Are you awake?" she whispered  
"yeah.. Yeah, What's wro-"  
"I'm getting you out of here." she had said grabbing a bag off of her back and shoving everything I owned into it. When she finished she turned to me and beckoned me forward.  
"come on, love we don't have much time."

I quickly followed her out of the castle until we got to the front gate.

"be safe." she said, handing me the bag and directions to somewhere safe and kissing me on the cheek.

"what about you?" I asked suddenly turning to my one and only friend.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me. Now go!"

Then I ran.

I followed her directions and found myself in front of a small cottage which I learned to be owned by a man named Kieran. He was expecting me and was extremely welcoming. He, like so many others, despised the king, and talked me into living with him in his spare room.

He spoke of a prophecy he believed in. Said that someday the prophecy would come true and the lord would be no more. I usually just rolled my eyes and went along with it, but truthfully, Kieren was smart, and I loved hearing his tales.

I stayed there for about a month before parting. I knew it wouldn't be safe for him to have me there, and I couldn't risk losing such a great friend. He was like the father I never had.

So i traveled back into the trees and used my book smarts to set up camp.

I stayed there for a few days alone, until I met Effy and her older brother, Tony.

I was walking when I heard quiet sobs. I followed the sound tentatively until I saw it.

I remembered my father speaking of his army, and of his plans and beliefs.

Segregation.

Death penalties.

It was all completely evil and fucked up.

He separated the creatures and added anyone who refused to follow his orders to his "garden".

I didn't see the point. My mum had raised me to see things liberally, and it made so much more sense to me. That's why I'm doing something about it now.

That's why WE are doing something about it now.

We met cook a while after We lost Tony, which was perfect timing for eff. He was so free spirited and fun to be around he picked her up right away.

She was smiling again.

Cook was the son of a warrior and had been training before the Darkness began to set over like it was in this area now. He showed me some moves in his spare time. It was fun to have people around.

We found Freddie and JJ fighting a crew of Lord Rethlend's guards after being caught for stealing some food from the market.

We were excited for some action and joined in on the fight.

Pandora was effy's childhood friend and she had been hiding out with Thomas when we met up with them.

We all decided to stick together after that. Have done ever since.

We've been through almost everything together, honestly.

Loads of drama.

Effy's little love triangle with Freddie and Cook was a little ridiculous, honestly. Especially since everyone but cook knew that Effy wouldn't ever sleep with him considering he is a centaur.

And now Effy is making fun of me because yes, I have a crush on Emily.

What? She's cute and funny, and from the way she speaks of others you can tell she is a genuinely good person.

I hadn't met anyone like her, and now she is sleeping with her head on my chest and her arm thrown carelessly over my stomach.

I was about to fall asleep when she just rolled over and cuddled into me.

Not that it bothers me, really it's quite nice, but now i am extremely distracted, and doubt I'll be falling asleep any time soon.

I could feel her breath on my neck as she mumbled something random in her sleep.

I suddenly felt the urge to kiss her, but decided it too creepy to actually do anything since she was asleep.

Maybe when she wakes up I'll-

No.

No.

No.

I was dangerous. Far too dangerous to become connected to anyone and I was already pushing it with my friends. But they knew who I was. They knew what they were getting into yet they insisted to stay by my side.

He was still looking for me. He needed me dead.

I could never be with Emily.

She was too precious.

I remembered her face when I had told her about lord Rethlend. She was disgusted that anyone could do that to people. She was shocked. She was scared.

I couldn't imagine her ever looking at me like that. I didn't want her to hate me too.

I was ashamed to call him my father.

I couldn't tell her I was his daughter. I needed her to remember me like this when she goes back through the wardrobe.

When she never sees me again and goes to live a happy life with... Someone who was not.. Me.

"Naomi." she said.

I raised my eyebrows surprised and looked down at her. She was still asleep.

What. The. Fuck.

She was still asleep!

She's dreaming of me! Ha!

She sighed and rolled away until her back was facing me. I frowned to myself suddenly missing her warmth.

_'fuck it,' _I thought as I reached out and pulled her into me until we were spooning. I rested my head on the pillow behind her and buried my face in her hair. God she smelt good.

I felt her take my hand in hers before I smiled to myself and finally fell asleep, and for the first time since the night I lost my childhood, I didn't dream.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **Hey guys. This Chapter is for my friend Amanda who told me to hurry the heck up and upload this or else she wouldn't give me a ride to 'The Dark Knight Rises' opening this Thursday night. So, yeah I've been blackmailed.

I hope you all like this chapter it was kind of hard for me to write, but I think I got my point across.  
I hope Naomi's mood swings don't throw you off too much. Luckily, Emily has always known how to deal with them. How lovely.

LEAVE ME A REVIEW!  
It motivates me!

Disclaimer: I'm just a girl with a computer. I don't own skins.

* * *

**Chapter7.**

"You seem happy," Effy said after Naomi left the main room to take a shower. We had arrived back at the fort about an hour ago after bidding Kieran adieu, and following the same trail back. Naomi had announced that we had to have an early night because we would all be leaving early the next morning to follow Kieran's advice and head North to Rimbshei Village.

"Good night?" She asked.

I smiled and sat down at the table leaning forward and resting my head on my outstretched arms, "Mmmhmm."

Effy Smiled and stood up from the table before making her way to the cupboard and pulling out some pasta.  
"Good." she mumbled as she dumped it into a boiling pot.

It had been a great night, but what had me smiling like a dork was how I had woken up this morning.  
Warm and comfortable.  
Wrapped up in Naomi's arms.

"You're glowing, what happened?" Effy asked leaning back in her chair.  
"Why don't you just read my mind?" I asked wearily, burying my face in my arms and biting my lip.  
"Because it would be more fun to hear you say it out load." she said.

I looked up to see that Effy was looking extremely entertained.  
"Say _what _out loud, exactly?" I asked as she stood up to mix her pasta around a bit.

She chuckled under her breath.  
"That you like her."  
"Likes who? Who are we talking about?" Pandora asked skipping into the room and sitting in Effy's seat, "Ooh c'nai have Some of that, eff? Smells wizzer."

Effy nodded before smiling at her friend and saying,  
"Emily has a crush on Naomi."

My eyes got wide and I quickly looked at Pandora to see her reaction to this as I felt my face heat up.

She looked excited.

"That's so cute! She is stunning, Naomi is. But I'm straight. But I guess if I wasn't I would probably have a crush on her," Pandora paused and gulped before taking a breath and continuing her rush of words," I told Naomi that I thought you were pretty."

Effy set some pasta in front of Panda and me and then sat down with her own. I sighed.

"What did she say?" I couldn't help but ask, but in reality, it didn't matter.

I was going home soon. I couldn't stay here, Katie needed me. Besides, it's not like Naomi had feeling for me. She was far too amazing to fancy someone as boring as me.

"Naomi said she thought so too." Pandora said with a mouth full of pasta.

_Oh._

I smiled and shoved some pasta in my mouth as the door to Naomi's room opened and she walked in wet hair and all wearing nothing but a towel wrapped securely around her body.

I froze.

"The boys are gone, right?" she said marching over to Effy and opening her mouth as Effy gave her a bite of her pasta.

"Yeah, they are outside scouting the land or whatever." Effy said.

I noticed that Effy had been staring at me smugly ever since Naomi first walked out. I glared at her.

"I'm going to go shower." I said quickly standing up, and making my way to the bathroom.

"I would say something about Naomi using all the hot water, but I know you weren't planning on using it." Effy said from behind me.  
I ignored her (partially because she was right) and shut the door behind me.

After I showered and put my clothes back on I walked back into the room. I found a fully clothed Naomi sitting at the table alone looking extremely bored, and extremely cute. She was looking at me, and her face lit up as I walked towards her.

"I'm so bored," she laughed, standing up from the table, and walking past me.

Naomi chuckled at my expression, whatever it was, and walked into the weaponry room motioning for me to follow.  
She then handed me the same bow as before and grabbed one herself, picking up a bundle of arrows as well.

"Are we going somewhere?" I asked.  
"No... Well kinda'," she said shyly," I was thinking maybe you'd like to join me for some target practice?"

I smiled and started out of the room bow in hand, and waited outside the door until she grabbed my hand in hers again and led me towards the exit.

I could really get used to her holding my hand all the time, I might add.

When we made it up the stairs and outside it was still pretty dark, despite it being mid-day, but luckily the stars were still in place , and it was a full moon so we could see where we were going pretty well. I had forgotten that the sun was gone, and, at first, it surprised me that it wasn't bright out.  
I still wasn't sure why the sun was missing or why the moon was present at such a random time of the day, but I couldn't be bothered to ask. I was with Naomi.

Naomi pulled a lantern out from her magical bag and lit it to reveal that we were in a small clearing only a little bit away from the tree.

She took the lantern and used the flame to light some Lamps outlining the round clearing, and turned back to me.

"Hold this." she said handing me the lantern and setting down her pack to pull out some targets before she walked over to a nearby tree and pinned them there.

She walked back over to me and took the lantern back, standing on her toes and hanging it on a branch above our heads. Her shirt went up with her arms, revealing her lower stomach. Her skin was flawless and fuck me was she was fit. I wanted to reach out and see if her skin was as smooth as it looked, but she eventually seemed pleased with the light and brought her arms back down.

Unfortunately, she hadn't missed my look of disappointment as she fixed her shirt.  
She raised an eyebrow, it seemed to be her trademark expression.

"Perv much?" She asked with a cheeky smile.

"Oh fuck off."

She laughed and then pulled a bow out from around her shoulder, setting it in the grass next to her bundle of arrows before she picked one up and handed it to me.

"Let's see what you've got." she said with a grin.

I took it and set my bow up in front of me, getting into the stance my father had taught me when I was little. I set the arrow into place, making sure I had a good grip on it before I pulled back and aimed.  
I took a deep breath and let it go.

"...Fucking hell." Naomi muttered under her breath as she stared at my perfect bulls-eye.

I smiled smugly at her and held my hand out expectantly.

"Give me two." I said. She frowned and cocked her head to the side and handed me two more.  
This time I set both of the arrows in at the same time, and gripped them tightly on the thick string.

"Top red, bottom white." I said just before I took aim and let go.

Naomi clapped her hands, eyebrows raised and a shocked smile set on her face,  
"I am impressed." she said.  
"Well, I am quite impressive," I said pulling the bow over my shoulder and pretending to buff my nails," I'm amazing actually."  
She laughed and picked up an arrow for herself,  
"That you are." she said eyes locked with mine as she quickly took an effortless shot at the target and split my arrow in half.

* * *

We cleared the target and shot some more until we got bored and decided to stop. Naomi blew out the lanterns and pulled a blanket out from her bag, and we lay on the ground staring up at the stars.

"That prick of a man thinks he can scare us by taking away the sun, but I think everything looks more beautiful under the moon." Naomi said quietly.

We lay side by side, barely touching, but it was still enough to make my heart flutter. I smiled and turned my gaze to Naomi fully intending to tell her that I agreed, but I lost my words when I saw how beautiful she looked staring up at the stars.

Her eyes were gleaming, like I had never seen before, perfectly capturing the reflection of the night sky in her blue orbs. My gaze lowered to her mouth and I licked my lips and felt myself leaning in.

"Naomi..." I heard myself whisper.

She smiled softly and turned her face to look at me, her smile faltering being replaced with an unreadable expression of its own.

It was then that I realized how close we were to each other. Her eyes shifted to my lips and then back to my eyes.

She smiled slightly,

"You're beautiful, Emily."

I blushed, and she leaned forward until our noses were brushing. I watched as her eyes fluttered closed.  
My heart was pumping in anticipation at just the idea of feeling her soft lips on mine, and I felt myself lean in for the kiss.

She quickly turned her gaze back to the sky and cleared her throat before mumbling something under her breath.

"I'm sorry Emily. I can't." she whispered after a while of silence.

I frowned at the beautiful girl that had just rejected me. Talk about mixed signals.

Maybe I was right before. Maybe she didn't like me.

But if I were to look at the signs I would be so sure she did. She was always holding my hand, and I always caught her staring at me with that cute smile on her face..  
I even woke up in her arms this morning! And just then, had we not just been about to kiss?  
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm reading into this incorrectly, but I was pretty sure we had connected.  
Jesus, I sound like such a twat.  
She's probably straight. My gaydar hasn't had the best track record in the past.

I sighed as she stood up and began to gather her things carefully avoiding my glare.

"Come on, I'm hungry." she said helping me up and folding the blanket back into her pack.

* * *

When we got back I was surprised to find that the boys had returned and were putting together some kind of metal box. It was large and made of solid metal. It had a small door on one of its walls, and a large lock.  
I walked over and knocked my hand against the box, and a deep echo emitted from it.

Cook laughed and patted me on the back.

"Beaut innit? This 'ere is where we're lockin' Thomas for the night." he said spinning around and mussing JJ's hair.

JJ slapped his hand away and opened up the door.  
Thomas walked over to the door and shot me a shy smile before kissing panda and stepping in.

JJ and Naomi wound a chain around the box and added another lock as Pandora and Effy locked the large one on the door.

"Why are we locking Thomas up in a big metal box?" I asked cook. Naomi stepped away from the container, and bit her lip before looking down at the floor.

"There is a full moon tonight, Emilio." Cook said as Effy turned and walked towards us.

I frowned.

"He's a werewolf." she said with a shrug.

I raised my eyebrows at that.  
Thomas? A werewolf? I honestly hadn't seen that coming. He was so chill and nice...  
Not that werewolves couldn't be.. I just hadn't met one before, so I assumed..

"How long do we have?" Freddy asked. He was sitting behind us at the table with Effy smoking a joint.

"Not too long. The moon has been out all day, so Thomas has been having unnatural reactions to it." JJ said as he double checked the locks.

Pandora quietly walked over and sat by Effy who draped her arm over her friend to comfort her.

"Can we play a game?" Pandora asked, her head resting on Effy's shoulder.

"Sure we can Panda-Pop." Cook said with a grin.  
"What did you have in mind?" Effy asked as she rubbed small circles on Pandora's back.  
"I want to play LIFE." Panda said suddenly piping up and smiling.

"Jesus Christ, I hate LIFE." Naomi said.  
"Yeah.. LIFE sucks." cook laughed.  
"Yeah and you really suck at LIFE." Naomi laughed patting cook on the back.

"You guys, LIFE is fun!" Pandora retorted, apparently not catching on to Naomi and cook's little pun-fest.

"Yeah, you're all a bunch of twats. Panda's right. LIFE is like a box of chocolates." Effy added. Her face seemed serious, but there was humour flashing in her eyes.

Cook bellowed out a laugh as everyone else chuckled with him until Pandora stood on her chair and shouted,  
"There's nothing funny about LIFE!"

And then everyone broke out laughing even harder. Even I couldn't help but laugh along despite my awkward state of Naomi confusion.

I decided to just forget about her for the time being, and just have fun for my new friend, Pandora.

Panda crossed her arms and walked over to a cupboard taking out a box and plopping it down on the ground. She sat cross legged and called us over.

"Oh shit too many people! Looks like I'm out." Cook said sounding relieved.  
"Cook come on! You've got to play!" I laughed sitting down next to panda and picking out a car piece.  
"It's a six person game, Emily. What do you want me to do?" he said with an eye roll.  
Naomi laughed from across the board and flipped him off.

"Cook you said you wanted to play!" Pandora said with a frown.

Cook rolled his eyes and Plopped down onto the floor.  
"Alright, I'll play, but I get the green car."

Effy, cook, JJ, Naomi, Pandora, and I played LIFE for about an hour while Freddie smoked and watched from a chair.  
Cook howled with joy when he won, and Pandora clapped her hands together.

We all jumped as Effy suddenly gasped and shut her eyes tightly before staring blankly in front of her.

It was scary, like she was looking at something invisible and dangerous behind me. I followed her glance with my own eyes but saw nothing odd about anything.

I turned back to Effy and frowned.  
I sat up, and started to reach towards her before Naomi leaned across the board, knocking over the pieces, and grabbed my arm to stop me.

We both seemed to freeze at the contact.

It sent a weird tingling sensation through my body, and I gasped softly when I looked up to see that she was looking at me oddly.. Lustfully?

Fuck knows.

I could only assume that she had felt the same electric current I had felt at the contact because her eyes were wide, and seemed a darker shade than usual.

She blinked twice, and took her hand off of my arm, biting her lip and looking away as I felt my face heat up.

"Don't erm... disturb her, she's having a vision." she muttered.

I pulled my arm back completely and folded my hands in my lap, watching as Effy stared blankly into space, careful not to look at Naomi.

Effy blinked rapidly before shaking her head and focusing her eyes on her lap.

"Eff?" pandora asked cautiously.

Effy smiled and looked up causing all of us to frown in confusion.

"I'm off to bed, babes." she said standing up, kissing panda on the forehead, grabbing Freddie, and heading into another room before shutting the door behind them.

"Well I guess I should too then. I want to fall asleep before Thommo transforms so I can wake up with him all normally-poo in the morning. Nighty-night!" Pandora said standing up awkwardly and walking into her room, shutting the door behind her as well.

Cook smiled and drummed his hands on his chest as he stood on all four of his legs.  
"Emilio! You sleepin' in the barn with me or with Naoms here?" he asked.

I raised my eyebrows and turned to Naomi who rolled her eyes and huffed a sigh.

"He doesn't have a barn. He has a room like all of us," she said shaking her head at Cook, "He doesn't have a bed though."

"I have a bed!" he protested.

"No, JJ has a bed. You sleep sanding up." She winked and stuck her tongue at cook who smiled and laughed before turning to his door.

"I could sleep with JJ," I said quietly.  
"Last time Jay had a girl in his bed, he got nervous and.. Well let's just say he has occasional bladder issues. I don't know if you'd enjoy that." cook winked.

I looked at Naomi who was still avoiding my gaze, and was playing with the hem of her shirt.  
"I wouldn't mi-"  
"Don't be stupid." came Naomi's voice from beside me. She stood up, and held out her hand to assist me. I ignored it and stood on my own.

Cook wiped his nose and turned for the door.  
"Alright, alright. I'll see you two birds in the morning."  
"Night, Cook." I said.  
"Night Emilio." he waved, and shut his door behind him.

Naomi and I went into her room and immediately got comfortable in our t-shirts and tucked ourselves into the sheets.

It was awkward. Neither of us dared to look at each other. It was silly, the way we were acting, but I was embarrassed and confused, and I couldn't bring myself to do anything about it besides avoid eye contact.

She blew out the lantern at her side, and the room went black.  
I shut my eyes, and tried my hardest to ignore the fact that I wasn't alone. I faced away from Naomi, but for some reason I felt like she was staring at me. I tensed up and snuggle deeper into the pillow, and fell asleep.

* * *

I was in a forest of trees bearing beautiful autumn toned leaves, The ground was covered in clover flowers and soft grass, and wild yellow and purple flowers that swayed slightly as the soft breeze brushed against them. There were birds singing, and I could hear the soft sound of a stream nearby. The sun was beaming brightly down on my face, and I smiled into the warmth of it. This was beautiful.

"Emily." A voice said from behind me.

The voice was unfamiliar, and happy. It made me smile slightly as I slowly turned around to find the man from Effy's memories, Lord Rethland, smiling at me warmly. My eyes widened, and I took a quick step backward. He laughed softly.

"Emily, please. I am no monster," He said," I'm just a simple man. All I want is for everything to be.. Simple. Isn't that what you want as well?"

I stepped back again slowly, trying to ease my way away from the frightening man before me.

"You just want to go home, right?" I nodded hesitantly," So why aren't they taking you home? Why? Emily, I could take you home. Come to me. I can help you." I stopped moving, and he smiled, "It's a scary world, this realm. I'm just trying to fix it. I just want beauty. That's why I have taken the sun here.. To my garden," He motioned around himself with a proud expression on his face, "It needs nourishment. It needs sunlight. Soon my garden's beauty will spread over the whole of the land, and we can all live like we used to. Peacefully. Away from all those disgusting creatures that took over _my_ land."

I frowned as I took in what he was saying. The nature I was admiring before suddenly seemed disgusting. Murderous.

"These... This forest is-"

"Disobedient filth." He interrupted, "The disgusting vermin of the world that could not be set straight. I have made them beautiful again."

"You're a murderer." I said as I took another step back. His smile faltered, and his eyes turned cold,

"Emily-"He reached his hand forward to pull me back towards him, but I jumped back, tripping over something soft on the ground. I tried to get back up but froze when I noticed what it had been that I had tripped over.

Naomi, beautiful as ever laying on the ground. I reached forward and rest my hand against her cheek. It was soft and warm. I felt a tear escape my eye and roll down my cheek. It landed on her upper lip, and suddenly she was shaking. I jumped back as her shaking increased and screamed as her limbs formed bark and she morphed into a tree just like the ones surrounding us.

My eyes flew open to complete darkness as the sound of a muted growl filled my ears. It was terrifying, the sound, and I cringed as a second growl came through, and visions of my dream flashed back to me.

It was all so real. The trees. The sun. The man.

Naomi.

I reached my arm out on the bed to find her, and quickly found her hand. She lay on her back, facing the ceiling, and I unthinkingly pulled myself closer to her and buried my face in her chest as I began to cry.

"Emily?" She froze.  
"I'm sorry I just-"  
She shushed me and wound her arms around my waist holding me to her, "It's okay."  
I cringed again as another roar came through the room.  
"It's just Thomas," She said," He's locked away. You're safe."  
"I know." I nodded as my crying began to subside.  
"Did you have a bad dream?"  
"Yeah," I sniffled and shut my eyes. I felt her chin rest on the top of my head as one of her hands found my own.  
"Do you want to talk about it?" I shook my head no, and relaxed in her arms.

It was quiet for a while before Naomi sighed,  
"Look about earlier, I-"  
"Naomi, It's okay. It's not like it's the first time I've been rejected." I said harshly pulling away from her and resting my head back on my pillow.  
"No, Ems... It's not... Fuck." She whispered, "It's not that I don't like you like that. Because I do."

I frowned,  
"What are you saying?"  
"I'm saying that I," She paused struggling to find the words," I can't." She sighed.

"Okay." I said simply,rolling onto my side so that I wasn't facing her.  
"Okay?"  
"Yeah, I get it." I said not even trying to hide the frustration in my voice, "You're a coward."

She snorted,  
"Me? I'm not a coward."  
If it wasn't so dark I'm sure I would have seen her roll her eyes. For once, her cheeky tone angered me.

I turned around, and faced her. I could feel her breath on my face, and I leaned in closer so that our noses were touching. She froze.

"Then prove it." I whispered.

Suddenly her lips were on mine.

My eyes opened wide in surprise before I closed them and kissed her back, winding my arms around her neck and bathing in the sensation of everything Naomi.  
The perfect way her lips felt against mine.  
The softness of her skin.  
The feeling of it against my own.  
Everything was so under estimated before. Everything I assumed would be perfect about her was even more perfect than I could have ever imagined.  
She felt amazing.

I smiled against her lips as she shifted her body so that she was hovering over me, and deepened the kiss. Another growl filled the room, and she slowly pulled back resting her head on my shoulder.

"I am _not_ a coward." She whispered against my neck, her lips brushing against my skin, causing me to shiver.  
"Okay," I managed to say shakily.  
"Say it." She ordered. I could feel her smile against my neck as she planted kisses there, and made her way back up to my lips barely brushing her mouth against my own.  
"You are _not_ a coward." I sighed quickly attempting to bring her mouth back to my own.

She chuckled, and rolled back to her side of the bed.

"Bitch." I mumbled.

She laughed and reached out patting the mattress trying to find me. I carefully avoided her reach, and smiled to myself when she moaned in frustration.  
"Would the brave Naomi like to cuddle?" I asked.  
"She would." Naomi sighed retrieving her arm from its search and plopping back onto her back.

I moved over until I was resting my head on her chest. She wound an arm around my waist and I lay mine across her stomach, and shut my eyes.

"Much better." Naomi said.  
"I knew you liked me." I whispered. She tickled my side causing me to giggle, and I squirmed and slapped her hand away before I got comfortable again. I suddenly felt really tired, and was about to fall asleep when I heard Naomi sigh again.

"Ems, I'm going to sound like a total cunt asking you this, but..."  
"I don't have any sexually transmitte-" I began to joke, but she put her hand over my mouth.  
"No! That's not what I was going to ask." She laughed. I smiled and pulled her hand down and held it in my own.  
"I know," I chuckled, "What is it?"  
"Could we keep this between just.. You and me? Just for now, I mean. Until we have the whole army thing sorted. I don't want to distract the crew. And I'll tell Effy to keep her psychic yap shut." She said. I frowned slightly, but eventually nodded.  
"If that's what you want." I said closing my eyes again.  
"Thank you." She sighed gratefully kissing the top of my head.

The last thing I heard that night was a muted howl from the other room, and the soft breathing of Naomi as she fell asleep as well.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN:**I know exactly where this is going, and I am quite excited.  
Thank you guys so much for your reviews! It makes me so happy.  
Keep them coming!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Skins... Or Narnia.**

* * *

**Naomi.**

"FuckfuckfuckSHITTYfuckfuck!"  
"JJ, stop.. Stop squirming about. I've almost got it-"  
"AAARGH!"  
"There." Freddy said with a smile holding out a large splinter that had previously been nestled uncomfortably on the bottom of JJ's foot.

Freddie flashed JJ a smile as he took a small bottle of liquid from Pandora and poured it over his friend's foot. JJ sighed contently as the pain went away, and reached for his boots.

"I'm wearing these when I go in again." JJ said holding them up.  
"Good plan." Thomas chuckled as he took a seat in the water across from Pandora.

We had been travelling for three days now, taking breaks at the river we were following upstream to get to our destination every once in a while.  
We had travelled away from the sunless land, and this pleased me. It was a lot easier to get around when you weren't feeling around in hope of not tripping over roots and rocks.

Everyone seemed keen about the plan to join Rimbshei Village's army, and attack Lord Rethland. Especially Cook, who insisted on sharpening all of our swords to perfection whenever he felt necessary,.  
But now, Cook lay on his back in the water with a long piece of grass twirling about in his mouth as the soft current slowly brought him closer to where I sat on a rock sticking out of the water.

"This is the life, ay Blondie?" He sighed as he waded through to my rock and used it as his own personal anchor, his hooves resting on the rocks below.

"The life, indeed." I said with a nod.

I looked across the river to where Emily sat with her feet in the cool water as Pandora finished braiding her hair. She was staring at the sky, and talking to Effy about who knows what, and she was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. Despite everything I was going through, I couldn't help but think that I was so fucking lucky.

The past few days with her had been wonderful. We had talked lightly, always keeping our distance as to not appear as anything more than friends. We hadn't kissed since that first night, which was very unfortunate but probably for the best. It would probably be too much for me to handle, if I'm being honest.

The sexual tension in the air is almost polluting. It's ridiculous.

And if I compare the way I feel as the jolts of electric currents rush throughout my body every once in a while when our hands accidentally brush as we hike through the woods to how I would feel if our lips actually met, tongues colliding in perfect unison as her lips made their way to my neck as a soft moan escapes her mouth and blows her hot breath into my ear...

"I did not!" Emily shrieked as she laughed at something Effy had said, pulling me out of my... Whatever the fuck that was.

I sighed, and let my eyes roam lazily over her body from the other side of the river. I watched as she continued talking to Effy at normal volume and then paused when Effy said something in her ear causing her gaze to turn to me. I felt my cheeks heat up from being caught staring at the red head. In return, Emily smiled, muttered a 'thank you' to Pandora, and stepped into the water, making her way to my rock.

"Miss me already, Emilio?" Cook asked raising his brows and winking at her seductively. I rolled my eyes.

"That's obviously it," I said as she climbed up to sit by me, "That's why she is up here with me, and not down there with you."

"Hey, someone's gotta be on the bottom." Cook said with a cheeky grin. I kicked water into his face, and he laughed as he brought his hands up to wipe his eyes.

"Alright, alright. But seriously, Red. You're fit. I'm fit. Don't mind me hooves, yeah? I've got magic fingers, me," He barked a laugh as he inspected his hand and wiggled his eyebrows, "If you fancy a willie-waggle you know where to find me… You too Naoms." He joked with a wink before sinking underwater, only to pop back up across the river by JJ and Freddie.

"Prick." I mumbled as I watched him examine JJ's foot, and then burst out laughing.

I felt Emily's warm hand on mine, and turned to see her smiling at me with an amused expression set on her face.

"Hey." She said tilting her head to the side adorably. Her red hair was slightly wet, which made it seem a bit darker than it really was. It was braided out of her face, which directed my attention to her beautiful brown eyes which seemed to glow in the sunlight, and the few tiny freckles that had appeared on her nose. God, I loved the sun.

She squeezed my hand, and I blinked realizing that I hadn't said anything to her since she had come over here. I chuckled and shook my head slightly, silently scolding myself for being such a twat.

"Hi," I said with a grin. She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips adorably before looking back at the water, and sighing quietly under her breath.

"You alright?" I asked bumping my shoulder against hers. She blushed and nodded once, keeping her eyes glued to the water.  
I squeezed her hand this time, but quickly let it drop, and scooted forward to look at her face.

She glanced at me from the corner of her eye and bit her lip, obviously trying not to smile. I raised my eyebrows and waited.  
She shifted uncomfortably under my stare, and turned to look at me.

"I think I should go back over there now." She whispered.

"What? Why?"

"I just.. The way you're always looking at me it… well.." I waited as she got quiet and took a deep breath," I just really want to kiss you right now." Her voice was husky and adorable as she looked down at her lap and bit her lip. It made my stomach do weird things, and I fought hard to clear my head.

"..Oh." I said dumbly, unsure of what else I could say.

She chuckled nervously under her breath, and scanned around her before she leaned forward and gave me a quick peck on the lips. She pulled back and bit her lip, as she waited for my reaction. She smiled smugly at what she saw, and jumped off the rock making her way back to Effy. I just sat there with, what I was sure had to be, an extremely obvious blush on my cheeks, and an embarrassingly shocked expression.

"Alright I think we should probably get going again. I feel refreshed and ready to move on." JJ said pulling his boots back on and stretching his arms.

I slid clumsily off my rock and waded towards the rest of the crew, picking up my backpack and watching as the group gathered their things and started walking past me to continue our journey. Emily smiled at me as she passed with the others, and I waited a bit behind for Effy. She smiled when she saw me waiting, and looped her arm around my own and walked with her head on my shoulder.

"You're so cute when you're in love." Effy said with a grin as we walked through the tall grass lining the river.

"Piss off. I'm not.." I mumbled, averting her eyes. She just laughed her Effy laugh and tightened her grip on my arm as we walked on.

* * *

We walked until nightfall, and set up camp much like we had done before, except this time I shared my tent with Emily. It would have seemed peculiar had it not been Effy's doing in the first place. That girl could sceme. She claimed that she wanted to spend some time with Pandora alone for some girl time, and then casually threw out that Emily and I should do the same. As odd as that sounds, it worked and no one questioned a thing.

I was very happy at this idea, although I didn't show it. I just shrugged and said that her plan sounded fine as I continued to help Cook set up the fire to make our dinner. I was quite good at making myself seem like I didn't give a shit. It was a talent of mine, I was quite proud of.

Anyway, sharing a tent with Emily really would be much less of a hassle. I usually slept alone in my tent. Well, not recently. Before I met Emily, I mean. But now Emily would sneak out of her own tent to cuddle with me every night, and we would whisper, and laugh quietly throughout the night until she would wake early in the morning and sneak back, unseen.

Luckily, for me, none of my friends (besides Effy) were really that observant of anything that I did anymore. Or they just didn't really over-think about anything. So when Emily didn't leave my side at any point in the day since that first night we kissed they hadn't really noticed much. Just that we had become friends.

They don't know a thing... I don't think.

I felt bad for having to lie to Emily. I really didn't want to keep us a secret, although that's what I had told her.

Actually I wanted quite the opposite. I wanted to kiss her in front of the world and show everyone that she was mine and I was hers. I just couldn't risk anyone else knowing.. For her sake of being alive and stuff.

It mostly irritated me how JJ very obviously fancied Emily. I'd catch him staring at her longingly, and trying to get her to go on "strolls" with him, and she was so kind, and pure, and wonderful that she would go every once in a while, and my head would fill with thoughts of him trying to kiss her.. Fuck.

He was a nice guy, and that intimidated me, not that I would ever admit that out loud. I'm not a nice guy. I'm not a nice anything. I'm a right fucking twat half the time, and I'm surprised Emily even tries to put up with me and all my sarcastic remarks.

Anyway, I felt horrible because the reason I needed us to be secret was because I couldn't let my father find out. It was far too dangerous, and I was terrified. I couldn't let what happened to my mum happen to Emily too.

I entered the tent after going on a walk to examine the area with Cook, and smiled when I saw that Emily was already tucked cutely into my blankets.

She smiled at me lazily as I lay beside her and pulled the blankets around us both. She sniffled and pulled me closer until she was resting against my chest. I let out a breath and relaxed wrapping my arms around her. This was routine, and it never failed to make me smile to have the girl tucked into my like that.

"Hi." She whispered softly. I shivered as her lips grazed my jaw, planting slow kisses there. I pulled her face up to mine, and felt her smile as I kissed her full on the mouth enclosing my arms around her until she was straddling me from above. Her kisses increased with intensity, and the taste on her lips drove me forward, and left me craving so much more.

I gently pushed her off of me so that instead I hovered over her, and I felt something my inside chest quiver when I saw her eyes flickering with untranslatable emotions, her brown deepening to something much darker as an amused smile weaved its way onto her lips.

"Hi." I said back making her giggle before I re-positioned myself so that I could kiss her jaw and made my way down her neck, eventually tasting the skin of her smooth shoulder. She moaned softly when my lips found a spot near her collarbone, and I lingered there enjoying the effect it had on her, as her breathing became so more uneven. Her fingers were woven into my hair, but she moved them to gently pull me up to her lips once again.

I sighed, enjoying the taste of her lips on my tongue again, trying hard to remember any moment in my life that I had ever felt as content as I did kissing Emily Fitch. I failed miserably, of course. Kissing Emily was my new favourite thing to do.

Jesus, I could do this forever. I mean, even just being with her makes me feel like I'm in heaven. I just wish I could have her forever. She was all I'd ever need. I felt a sharp pain internally once I realized that wish could never come true, and silently scolded myself for allowing myself to feel this way for someone. Someone who could just fucking leave, and was most likely planning on it.

My thoughts were quickly forgotten though when I realized that her hands had begun to roam. She was reaching for the hem of my shirt when I felt her pull away from me to bring her lips to brush lightly against my ear.

"Naoms, Take this off. I need to feel you."

Not wanted. Needed, which was exactly how I was feeling at that exact moment in time, as well. I sat up and quickly removed it throwing it to some nonspecific area in the tent before turning back to her and pulling hers off over her head as well trailing kisses up her stomach as I did so. She giggled slightly as I tickled her sides and I smiled against her skin, and brought my face up to just look at her.

She bit her lip, and stared back at me, the moon softly tracing every inch of skin it could through the material of the tent.

"You are the most beautiful person I have ever seen in my life."

What the fuck? Did that just come from me? I felt myself blush in the darkness from that involuntary random confession, but couldn't help but smile once I saw the expression covering Emily's face.

She looked like she had just received the best gift anyone could ever receive, her smile was so flawless and wonderful it almost made me dizzy. She couldn't be human, not this girl.

"Naomi I-"  
There was a rustling sound from outside our tent, and we both froze until we heard Cook whisper out my name.

"Naomikins?" He said a bit louder.  
"Fucking great." I moaned in frustration.

Emily giggled as she pulled the covers up and over her face. I pulled them back down to look at her once more.  
"One second Cook." I called out. I stood up, pulled my shirt back on, and tidied my hair a bit.

"Hurry back, please." she whispered after I kissed her forehead and made my way outside. .

"Cook, What the fuck d'you-"  
"Naomi," said a tall man on a horse besides Thomas and Cook.  
"Breckan.." I frowned slightly, but replaced that look with a grin. This was quite a surprise.

Breckan was an old friend. He worked for Kieran, running errands for him every once in a while.

The four of us caught up for a bit, but I soon found myself tapping my foot in frustration. He was a nice bloke, and I liked the guy, but I had a gorgeous half-naked red head waiting for me in my tent, and, call me crazy, I would much rather be in there with her continuing where we had left off.

"So what are you doing here?" I asked, maybe a little too rudely. Breckan shifted awkwardly on his feet gripping the leather harness of his horse as he pulled down a satchel and took out a carefully folded piece of parchment.

"Sorry," he mumbled awkwardly, "I was supposed to give you this.. It's from Kieran." I took it with a grin, and told the boys to give Breckan some food while I examined the letter.

On the piece of yellow parchment was Kieran's scribbly handwriting messily resembling what seemed to be words. I chuckled and began to read.

_Naomi,_  
_I know you're quite busy at the moment, and I hope your journey is going well! I have been enlightened with some interesting information recently, and it very much concerns you as well as myself and I really need to fucking tell you about it! It's driving me bloody mad! So if you could find some time after you're done conversing with the Village, I'd be very happy. It's really important. You're gonna freak out._  
_-Kieran_  
_Oh by the way, tell Emily I said 'hi'! She's quite fit, if I do say so myself. Sweet girl too. Don't fuck it up!_

I crumbled the letter quickly and threw it onto the embers that were still slightly burning from earlier.

Fucking tit. He should know better than to mention Emily in a letter that was travelling throughout Rethland's fucking kingdom. Especially since he himself had absolutely no information that Emily and I actually were together. Was it really that obvious how attracted I am to her? I thought I was doing an okay job hiding it from anyone not in my head.

"I take it you didn't like the letter?" Thomas chuckled as the parchment burned into nothing but ashes.

"Yeah, something like that."

We stood there awkwardly for a bit until I saw Cook waving Breckan off, and snuck back into the tent.

Emily was asleep, but I wasn't annoyed with her. She looked too adorable, and I found myself smiling as I tucked myself back in and wrapped my arm around her. I rolled my eyes at myself before I shut them tight. I was turning into such a sappy loser for this girl.

* * *

**Emily.**

My eyes flew open to the sound of screaming. My arm pushing away from the arms that held onto me as I struggled to escape.

"Emily... Emily!.. Ems wake up. Shhh." Naomi's voice comforted me. I stopped moving once I realized it was her holding me and not the horrible man from my dream.

I gasped and buried my face into her shirt, clinging closer to her as I sobbed.

"That's the third one, Naoms. About Katie." I said between sobs as she tightened her hold on me, and kissed the top of my head. She cupped my face, and wiped the tears off of my face with her thumbs.  
"Naomi, what if they aren't just dreams?" I asked quietly.

Naomi froze, and let out a shaky breath. She didn't speak. She just let me go, and stood up, leaving the tent without a single word. I frowned, and stared at the tent flap she had just disappeared out of.

I lay back down, but did not dare close my eyes again. It was far too frightening. The dreams were so realistic, and colourful. They were terrifying.

The first one I had about Katie was a few days ago. It had been the image of her crawling through the wardrobe, and walking aimlessly through the forest. She looked scared as she called out to me. I screamed out her name to tell her I was there, but she couldn't hear me no matter how loud I shouted. She kept walking deeper into the dark trees and soon found herself on a path lined with white trees.

They were beautiful, glistening with slight dew, every inch of them completely white including the few tear drop shaped leafs that vacated the thin bonelike branches. She followed the path, her eyes scanning her surroundings. She had stopped shouting my name, but I only got louder. I didn't like this, it was too beautiful. Too odd.

I watched as Katie got further and further away from where I was watching, until she got too far for me to see. I was panicking, and it only got worse when a few clouds parted revieling the rest of the path winding through hills in the distance and ending at a shadowy castle far in the distance. A castle I had seen in Effy's head.

The path lead to Lord Rethland's home.  
And my sister was walking right to it.  
I screamed my sisters name more frantically then until I heard Naomi panicking trying to wake me up from my nightmare. She just held me tight and told me It was alright like she always did before I had to sneak back to my tent praying that I hadn't woken anyone else. I never did though.

The second dream I had took place in the castle itself. I don't know how I knew it was that same castle, but I could just feel it. There stood Katie with a wide grin on her face. She was speaking to someone, but I couldn't tell who from the angle I was viewing from.  
"This is fucking top shit you've got here." Katie said examining a dress that was being displayed to her by a shy looking woman. I smiled slightly. I missed her, and her shameless and slightly obnoxious comments, but my smile quickly disappeared with what I heard next.

"Take anything you like. I want you to feel comfortable."

My stomach dropped at the sound of his voice and I began to panic again. I listened as Katie questioned who he was and I listened as he warped everything. Telling Katie his lies. Brainwashing her as she believed everything he said. He told her he was fixing his world. Making it wonderful and beautiful again with his gift, and she peered at him as though he were god himself.

He explained how he viewed the creatures as evil murderous grime, and she laughed, and smiled widely when he asked her if she liked the idea of helping him rule. He offered her clothes, and other materialistic things and her eyes sparkled with delight. He held out his hand, and she took it.

That's when Naomi had woken me again. Apparently I was freaking out again.

Tonight the dream was much the same.

Katie was plotting with Lord Rethland, and his followers. Speaking of what they needed to do to capture the rebellious few. Katie's eyes widened at a description of a girl who seemed to be travelling with this group. The man explaining said she looked exactly like Katie, and Katie smiled broadly.

"That's my sister, Emily!" Lord Rethland turned to her in interest.

"Emily, you say?" he asked in a suspicious tone.. As if he already knew.

Katie nods, and smiles.  
"Have you met her?" Katie frowns. The look on lord Rethland's face triggered Katie to ask that question in confusion.  
He chuckled.

"Oh yes, I know her well. It's almost as if I'm in her head." He spoke slowly and carefully as his head lolled around smugly as he smiled his creepily beautiful smile and turned his gaze to look directly at me.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **Leave a review if you like it!  
I promise things are going to get really awesome soon.  
I'm having so much fun writing this.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own skins.

* * *

**Chapter9.  
Emily.**

She was avoiding me.

Avoiding eye contact.  
Avoiding conversation.  
The whole package.

We had been walking about eight hours now and she hadn't even looked at me since she stormed out of the tent this morning. I was beginning to feel awkward.

That wasn't the only thing making me feel awkward though. The whole trip I had been getting a vibe from JJ that he may have a crush on me, which I honestly don't really mind that much, (He's a nice guy, obviously not my type, but nice) but today he somehow seemed less shy, and a lot more confident. Which, I guess is good… In a way, but this also meant that he had begun flirting with me more intensely.

"You look very beautiful today, Emily." He said smiling at me, leafs and twigs sticking out of his messy hair.  
"Thank you very much, JJ. That's very nice." I said reaching forward unthinkingly and taking them out.

He smiled at our close proximity, which I hadn't really noticed, and leaned in a bit, closing his eyes and puckering his lips. I flinched away quickly, putting a good amount of space between us, and looked ahead, pretending that I hadn't noticed he was about to make a move on me.  
"Um.. Th-Thanks." I heard him mutter from beside me.  
"No problem, JJ. What are friends for?"

Then later I mentioned to Pandora that I was feeling a "bit chilly" and he took the opportunity to throw his arm over my shoulder and drape his coat over me. I didn't miss his look over to Cook in which he received a swift thumbs up in response.  
I rolled my eyes, thanked JJ, and pretended like I didn't notice. But when I heard Naomi huff quietly in frustration behind us I didn't do as well of a job pretending like I didn't notice, and I felt a smile spread across my face. JJ saw this and, of course, took it the wrong way, and pulled me in closer.

Now JJ and I were walking together behind the rest of the crew silently, and it felt extremely awkward. Especially since I was secretly with Naomi.. Or at least I think I was..

She was acting weird.

"I think I just stepped on some shit." Cook said stopping to examine one of his hooves.  
"How odd," JJ said quickly marching forward and examining cook's hoof as well, "If we weren't so far away from their natural habitat, I would say that resembled Unicorn excrement.. But that would have to mean that the climate has changed drastically in this area. Which I suppose is possible noting all of the strange patterns in temperature due to Lord Rethland's curses. What do you think?"  
"I think I need to wash this off. It smells fuckin' horrible." Cook said turning from the trail and heading through a thin layer of trees towards the river.

"Well I guess we're taking a break?" Naomi said, sounding annoyed.  
"A break would be nice. We have been traveling for a long time. " Thomas said.

I sighed and plopped down onto a stump.  
"Do you um… Aren't you coming for a swim, Emily?" JJ asked, his cheeks bright red.  
"No thanks, Jay. It's a bit too cold for me. I think I'm just going to sit for a bit." I said with a smile.  
He blushed a deeper red at the use of his nickname, and mumbled something before walking to the water with a frowning Naomi and a smirking Effy following behind.

"You seem sad, Emily. Anything I can do to make you happy again? I am a great listener." Thomas said with a smile.

"I don't think so, Thomas." I said looking away from where Naomi and Effy sat by the river talking quietly to each other.  
"Naomi seems worried. Bothered about something. Does she not?" Thomas asked with concern.  
I shrugged, and dug my shoe into the dirt below.

"She cares about you. It must be you who has her worried. She is very protective of the things she loves." Thomas said.

I turned my head to find him looking quite pleased with himself. I shook my head slowly.  
"She doesn't love me, Thomas." I whispered.  
"Ah, but I am sure you are wrong. She hides it very well. Almost perfectly. But her eyes speak a different story. They cannot lie." I frowned and leaned back against a tree behind me.

"Thommo! THOMMO!"  
"Coming Pandora!" Thomas chuckled flashing me a polite smile and a wink before walking down towards the others.

_Did_ Naomi love me? We had only really known each other for a short amount of time, but the thought of her being in love with me seemed…  
I don't know.. I liked it. It was a nice thought.  
But from the way she occasionally shut me out completely, it seemed as though she really didn't care all that much. I really didn't know how she felt.

"Do you know how _you_ feel?" Effy's voice came from next to me. I hadn't jumped despite how sudden and unexpected Effy's appearance was. I guess I was used to her by now. I just shrugged in response.  
"She's just scared." Effy said leaning on the tree with me.  
"Of me?"  
"No… and yes."  
"I don't understand." I said with a sigh, lifting my chin to look at the blue sky.  
"You will."

There was a huff and the sound of a few twigs breaking before Freddie popped up out of the trees with a grin, and a spliff hanging out of his mouth.  
"Fuck," He muttered getting his foot free from some roots tangled in his boot, "Where's Naomi's bag?"

He seemed in a hurry, and Effy smiled knowingly and waved her arm over to where Naomi's bag hung off of a tree branch. Freddie rushed to it, and started digging through it.

"Hurry up, I want some." JJ said walking up behind him and reaching into the bag as well. Freddie smiled victoriously, and held up a box of Garibaldis before taking two and handing the box to JJ, and sneaking back towards the water.

JJ smiled and reached into the box.  
Then he was pinned to a tree by five arrows. Two holding his sleeves, two others on the outsides of his trousers, and one more just below his… business.

He stood there eyes wide with fear, as he looked down at the fifth arrow.

"OH…MY…_GOD_." He gasped.  
Naomi walked out from the trees with her bow in hand. She walked towards him, licked her lips slowly, and quickly grabbed the box from JJ's hands before leaning forward, and smiling smugly inches from his face. He blushed, and gulped loudly.

"What's _mine_," She pulled out the first two arrows in his sleeves," Is _not_ yours," She pulled out the next two from his pants, and paused before grasping the last one," I don't like to share." And with that, and a yelp from JJ, she quickly pulled out the last one. She turned from him, and looked right at me before turning away, stuffing her arrows into her bag.

JJ was frozen in place until Cook walked up laughing his arse off and shook his friend a bit.  
"You know how Naoms feels about her biscuits, you dumb twat!" He laughed as we all gathered and began walking again.

* * *

"We're almost there." Freddie said after a while of silent hiking, "If we set up camp by sundown and pick up at sunrise we should be there around noon tomorrow."  
Everyone cheered, and seemed to pick up the pace as we walked on. I was pleased that we were arriving earlier than planned, but I was also nervous. Naomi wasn't talking to me, I had no idea where the wardrobe was, and apparently we were going into battle.

Not to mention my nightmares that I was almost positive were real. I shivered at the thought of it. JJ saw me shiver and, once again misinterpreting my body language, assumed I was cold and began to raise his arm over my shoulders.

"JJ, I need you up here. I need… Um… I need help with the navigation. Yeah." Naomi said stiffly from ahead. He pulled his arm back and jogged up to Naomi in the front. I rolled my eyes, if she didn't want JJ hitting on me, all she had to do was tell her friends that I was hers.

She didn't have to be such a twat about it. I really couldn't see why it was such a big deal.

We set up camp a bit before sun down, and Cook insisted we all work on our fighting before we speak to the big army tomorrow. He told us about Rethland's army and about how they are all materialized monsters, made from (you guessed it) plants.

So, there I was, following Naomi down a dirt path silently wondering, once again, what was going on.  
She stopped walking at a turn and dropped her bag on the floor while she set up targets. She was still refusing to look at me.

"Naomi," I said in attempt to get her to at least acknowledge me. She ignored me and continued to set up.  
I quickly walked over to her and spun her around to face me.  
She sighed and brought her gaze up to me once she realized I wasn't going to let go of her arms any time soon.

"_Yes_, Emily?"  
"What the fuck is going on? Why are you ignoring me?" I asked. She rolled here eyes.

"I'm sorry? But I do have other things I need to be worrying about. This is a little more important." She said harshly motioning to the targets, and shaking out of my grip. I frowned.  
"What, the _targets_?"

She turned her back to me, and moved them around a bit, but it was obvious that she was stalling.  
I scowled at her, but my expression softened when I realized she was shaking.

"Naoms?" I asked as I moved towards her. She let out a sob, and I quickly threw my arms around her waist from behind and rest my chin on her shoulder. She turned around and clung to me, crying on my shoulder.  
"I can't stand it." She sobbed.  
"Ssssh, it's okay.. It's okay." I said stroking her hair.

We stayed like that for a bit, until she sniffled, and pulled back to look at me.

I reached forward to move some of her hair out of her face, and dry away some lingering tears. She looked so fragile, and when I looked into her blue eyes, I could tell Thomas had been right.

They spoke. They emitted so much emotion, that I could see everything. Confusion, fear, conflict… And love. She loved me. I could see it. I could FEEL it.

"I love you, Naomi." I said stroking her red, tear stained cheek.

She smiled and let out a short sad laugh, before she shook her head and looked away, her eyes overflowing with tears once more.

"I wish you didn't, Ems."

I sighed, and took her hand in mine, "Talk to me Naomi. You can talk to me."

"I know." She said with a nod as she brought her hand up to her face and wiped her eyes.  
I waited for her to speak, hoping that she would explain to me how she was feeling. Hoping she would let me in.

"Let's shoot some arrows. We have a long day tomorrow." She said.

I sighed, and followed her to her bag as she pulled out a bow, and some arrows.

"Okay," I said hesitantly, "But we do need to talk."  
"I know," She said with a small smile as she handed me the bow, "But right now I want to teach you something."

She took out five arrows, and handed them to me.  
I suddenly remembered her attack on JJ, and chuckled to myself.

"I doubt I'll be able to do this Naomi."  
She shook her head, and smiled,  
"I know you can." She whispered into my ear as she wrapped her arms around my waist from behind and positioned me to face the large target she had set up.

"Now, get in your stance." She said pulling her arms back. I did what I was told, and smiled when I felt her rest a hand on my shoulder, and another on my hip.

We were fine for now, Naomi and I.  
But when I considered what we had ahead of us, I knew that we had a very long way to go.


End file.
